The conflict began during a campaign to end discrimination against the Catholic/nationalist minority by the Protestant/unionist government and police force.[31][32] The authorities attempted to suppress this protest campaign and were accused of police brutality; it was also met with violence from loyalists, who alleged it was a republican front. Increasing inter-communal violence, and conflict between nationalist youths and police, eventually led to the August 1969 riots and deployment of British troops. Initially welcomed by Catholic civilians, the army gradually came to be seen as hostile.[33] The emergence of armed paramilitary organisations led to the subsequent conflict over the next three decades.

The main participants in the Troubles were republican paramilitaries such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA); loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA); British state security forces – the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC); and political activists and politicians. The security forces of the Republic played a smaller role. Republican paramilitaries carried out a guerrilla campaign against the British security forces, as well as a bombing campaign against infrastructure, commercial and political targets. Loyalists targeted republicans/nationalists, and attacked the wider Catholic community in what they claimed was retaliation. At times there were bouts of sectarian tit-for-tat violence. The British security forces undertook both a policing and a counter-insurgency role, primarily against republicans. There were some incidents of collusion between British security forces and loyalists. The Troubles also involved numerous riots, mass protests and acts of civil disobedience, and led to segregation and the creation of no-go areas.

More than 3,500 people were killed in the conflict, of whom 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces, and 16% were members of paramilitary groups.[7] There has been sporadic violence since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, including a campaign by anti-ceasefire republicans.[3][26][34]

A "peace line" in Belfast. The peace lines are a series of high barriers in Northern Ireland that separate nationalist and unionist neighbourhoods. They have been built at urban interface areas in Belfast, Derry, Portadown and elsewhere. The stated purpose of the peace lines is to minimise inter-communal violence.

The British government's position is that its forces were neutral in the conflict, trying to uphold law and order in Northern Ireland and the right of the people of Northern Ireland to democratic self-determination. Nationalists regard the state forces as forces of occupation or partisan combatants in the conflict. The British security forces focused on republican paramilitaries and activists, and the "Ballast" investigation by the Police Ombudsman confirmed that British forces colluded on several occasions with loyalist paramilitaries, were involved in murder, and furthermore obstructed the course of justice when claims of collusion and murder were investigated.[42]

The Troubles were brought to an uneasy end by a peace process that included the declaration of ceasefires by most paramilitary organisations, the complete decommissioning of the IRA's weapons, the reform of the police, and the corresponding withdrawal of the British Army from the streets and sensitive Irish border areas such as South Armagh and Fermanagh, as agreed by the signatories to the Belfast Agreement (commonly known as the "Good Friday Agreement"). One part of the Agreement is that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom unless a majority of the Northern Irish electorate vote otherwise.[43] It also established the Northern Ireland Executive, a devolved power-sharing government, which must consist of both unionist and nationalist parties.

Although the number of active participants was relatively small, the Troubles affected many in Northern Ireland on a daily basis; their impact sometimes spread to England and the Republic of Ireland, and, occasionally, to parts of mainland Europe.[44]

In 1609, Scottish and English settlers, known as planters, were given land escheated from the native Irish in the Plantation of Ulster.[45] Coupled with Protestant immigration to "unplanted" areas of Ulster, particularly Antrim and Down, this resulted in conflict between the native Catholics and the "planters", leading in turn to two bloody religious conflicts known as the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1653) and the Williamite war (1689–1691), both of which resulted in Protestant victories.

Anglican dominance in Ireland was ensured by the passage of the Penal Laws that curtailed the religious, legal, and political rights of anyone (including both Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, such as Presbyterians) who did not conform to the state church, the Anglican Church of Ireland. As the Penal Laws started to be phased out in the latter part of the 18th century, there was more competition for land, as restrictions were lifted on the Irish Catholic ability to rent. With Roman Catholics allowed to buy land and enter trades from which they had formerly been banned, tensions arose resulting in the Protestant "Peep O'Day Boys"[46] and Catholic "Defenders". This created polarisation between the communities and a dramatic reduction in reformers among Protestants, many of whom had been growing more receptive to democratic reform.[46]

With the 1801 Act of Union, a new political framework was formed with the abolition of the Irish Parliament and incorporation of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The result was a closer tie between Anglicans and the formerly republican Presbyterians as part of a "loyal" Protestant community. Although Catholic Emancipation was achieved in 1829, largely eliminating official discrimination against Roman Catholics (then around 75% of Ireland's population), Dissenters, and Jews, the Repeal Association's campaign to repeal the 1801 Union failed.

In the late 19th century, the Home Rule movement was created and served to define the divide between most nationalists (usually Catholics), who sought the restoration of an Irish Parliament, and most unionists (usually Protestants), who were afraid of being a minority under a Catholic-dominated Irish Parliament and who tended to support continuing union with Britain.

Unionists and Home Rule advocates were the main political factions in late 19th- and early 20th-century Ireland.[48]

By the second decade of the 20th century, Home Rule, or limited Irish self-government, was on the brink of being conceded due to the agitation of the Irish Parliamentary Party. In response to the campaign for Home Rule which started in the 1870s, unionists, mostly Protestant and largely concentrated in Ulster, had resisted both self-government and independence for Ireland, fearing for their future in an overwhelmingly Catholic country dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1912, unionists led by Edward Carson signed the Ulster Covenant and pledged to resist Home Rule by force if necessary. To this end, they formed the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).[49]

Northern Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom, albeit under a separate system of government whereby it was given its own parliament and devolved government. While this arrangement met the desires of unionists to remain part of the United Kingdom, nationalists largely viewed the partition of Ireland as an illegal and arbitrary division of the island against the will of the majority of its people. They argued that the Northern Ireland state was neither legitimate nor democratic, but created with a deliberately gerrymandered unionist majority. Catholics initially composed about 35% of its population.[50] A total of 557 people, mostly Catholics, were killed in political or sectarian violence from 1920 to 1922 in the six counties that would become Northern Ireland, both during and after the Irish War of Independence.[51] The result was[52] communal strife between Catholics and Protestants, with some historians describing this violence, especially that in Belfast, as a pogrom,[53][54] although historian Peter Hart argues that the term is not appropriate given the reciprocity of violence in Northern Ireland.[55]

Sir James Craig, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland who said, "All I boast is that we are a Protestant Parliament and Protestant State".

A marginalised remnant of the Irish Republican Army survived the Irish Civil War. This would come to have a major impact on Northern Ireland. Although the IRA was proscribed on both sides of the new Irish border, it remained ideologically committed to overthrowing both the Northern Ireland and the Free State governments by force of arms to unify Ireland. The government of Northern Ireland passed the Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922; this gave sweeping powers to the government and police to do virtually anything seen as necessary to re-establish or preserve law and order. The Act continued to be used against nationalists long after the violence of this period had come to an end.[56]

The two sides' positions became strictly defined following this period. From a unionist perspective, Northern Ireland's nationalists were inherently disloyal and determined to force unionists into a united Ireland. This threat was seen as justifying preferential treatment of unionists in housing, employment and other fields. The prevalence of larger families and thus the potential for a more rapid population growth among Catholics was seen as a threat. Unionist governments ignored Edward Carson's warning in 1921 that alienating Catholics would make Northern Ireland inherently unstable. After the early 1920s, there were occasional incidents of sectarian unrest in Northern Ireland. These included severe rioting in Belfast in the 1930s and 1950s, and the IRA's brief Northern Campaign in the 1940s and Border Campaign between 1956 and 1962, which did not enjoy broad popular support among nationalists. After the IRA called off its campaign in 1962, Northern Ireland became relatively stable for a brief period.[49]

There is little agreement on the exact date of the start of the Troubles. Different writers have suggested different dates. These include the formation of the modern Ulster Volunteer Force in 1966,[57] the civil rights march in Derry on 5 October 1968, the beginning of the 'Battle of the Bogside' on 12 August 1969 or the deployment of British troops on 14 August 1969.[49]

repeal of the Special Powers Act – this allowed police to search without a warrant, arrest and imprison people without charge or trial, ban any assemblies or parades, and ban any publications; the Act was used almost exclusively against nationalists[59][60][61][62][63]

Some suspected and accused NICRA of being a republican front-group whose ultimate goal was to unite Ireland. Although republicans and some members of the IRA (then led by Cathal Goulding and pursuing a non-violent agenda) helped to create and drive the movement, they did not control it and were not a dominant faction within it.[49][64][65][66][67]

At the same time, a loyalist group calling itself the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) emerged in the Shankill area of Belfast. It was led by Gusty Spence, a former British soldier. Many of its members were also members of the UCDC and UPV.[70] In April and May it petrol bombed a number of Catholic homes, schools and businesses. A firebomb killed an elderly Protestant widow, Matilda Gould.[60] On 21 May, the UVF issued a statement declaring "war" against the IRA and anyone helping it.[71] On 27 May the UVF fatally shot a Catholic civilian, John Scullion, as he walked home. A month later it shot three Catholic civilians as they left a pub, killing a young Catholic from the Republic, Peter Ward.[60][71] Shortly after, the UVF was proscribed (made illegal) by the Northern Ireland government.[60] The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed in January 1967.[58][72]

On 20 June 1968, civil rights activists (including Austin Currie, a nationalist MP) protested against housing discrimination by squatting in a house in Caledon. The local council had allocated the house to an unmarried 19-year-old Protestant (Emily Beattie, the secretary of a local UUP politician) instead of either of two large Catholic families with children.[73] RUC officers – one of whom was Beattie's brother – forcibly removed the activists.[73] Two days before the protest, the two Catholic families who had been squatting in the house next door were removed by police.[74] Currie had brought their grievance to the local council and to Stormont, but had been told to leave. The incident invigorated the civil rights movement.[75]

A monument to Northern Ireland's first civil rights march

On 24 August 1968, the civil rights movement held its first civil rights march, from Coalisland to Dungannon. Many more marches were held over the following year. Loyalists (especially members of the UPV) attacked some of the marches and held counter-demonstrations in a bid to get the marches banned.[73] Because of the lack of police reaction to the attacks, nationalists saw the RUC, almost wholly Protestant, as backing the loyalists and allowing the attacks to occur.[76] On 5 October 1968, a civil rights march in Derry was banned by the Northern Ireland government.[77] When marchers defied the ban, RUC officers surrounded the marchers and beat them indiscriminately and without provocation. More than 100 people were injured, including a number of nationalist politicians.[77] The incident was filmed by television news crews and shown around the world.[78] It caused outrage among Catholics and nationalists, sparking two days of rioting in Derry between nationalists and the RUC.[77]

A few days later, a student civil rights group – People's Democracy – was formed in Belfast.[73] In late November, O'Neill promised the civil rights movement some concessions, but these were seen as too little by nationalists and too much by loyalists. On 1 January 1969, People's Democracy began a four-day march from Belfast to Derry, which was repeatedly harassed and attacked by loyalists. At Burntollet Bridge the marchers were attacked by about 200 loyalists, including some off-duty police officers, armed with iron bars, bricks and bottles in a pre-planned ambush. When the march reached Derry City it was again attacked. The marchers claimed that police did nothing to protect them and that some officers helped the attackers.[79] That night, RUC officers went on a rampage in the Bogside area of Derry, attacking Catholic homes, attacking and threatening residents, and hurling sectarian abuse.[79] Residents then sealed off the Bogside with barricades to keep the police out, creating "Free Derry", which was briefly a no-go area for the security forces.[citation needed]

In March and April 1969, loyalists bombed water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland, blaming them on the dormant IRA and elements of the civil rights movement. Some attacks left much of Belfast without power and water. Loyalists hoped the bombings would force O'Neill to resign and bring an end to any concessions to nationalists.[80][81] There were six bombings between 30 March and 26 April.[80][82] All were widely blamed on the IRA, and British soldiers were sent to guard installations. Unionist support for O'Neill waned, and on 28 April he resigned as Prime Minister.[80]

On 19 April there were clashes between NICRA marchers, the RUC and loyalists in the Bogside. RUC officers entered the house of Samuel Devenny (42), an uninvolved Catholic civilian, and ferociously beat him along with two of his teenage daughters and a family friend.[80] One of the daughters was beaten unconscious as she lay recovering from surgery.[83] Devenny suffered a heart attack and died on 17 July from his injuries. On 13 July, RUC officers beat a Catholic civilian, Francis McCloskey (67), during clashes in Dungiven. He died of his injuries the next day.[80]

On 12 August, the loyalist Apprentice Boys of Derry were allowed to march along the edge of the Bogside. Taunts and missiles were exchanged between the loyalists and nationalist residents. After being bombarded with stones and petrol bombs from nationalists, the RUC, backed by loyalists, tried to storm the Bogside. The RUC used CS gas, armoured vehicles and water cannons, but were kept at bay by hundreds of nationalists.[84] The continuous fighting, which became known as the Battle of the Bogside, lasted for two days.

In response to events in Derry, nationalists held protests at RUC bases in Belfast and elsewhere. Some of these led to clashes with the RUC and attacks on RUC bases. In Belfast, loyalists responded by invading nationalist districts, burning houses and businesses. There were gun battles between nationalists and the RUC, and between nationalists and loyalists. A group of about 30 IRA members was involved in the fighting in Belfast. The RUC deployed Shorland armoured cars mounted with heavy Browning machine guns. The Shorlands twice opened fire on a block of flats in a nationalist district, killing a nine-year-old boy, Patrick Rooney. RUC officers opened fire on rioters in Armagh, Dungannon and Coalisland.[49]

On 14–15 August, British troops were deployed in Derry and Belfast to restore order,[87] but did not try to enter the Bogside, bringing a temporary end to the riots. Eight people had been shot dead, more than 750 had been injured (including 133 who suffered gunshot wounds) and more than 400 homes and businesses had been destroyed (83% Catholic-owned)[citation needed]. 1,505 Catholic and 315 Protestant families were forced to flee their homes.[citation needed] The Irish Army set up refugee camps in the Republic near the border. Nationalists initially welcomed the British Army, as they did not trust the RUC. Despite the British government's attempt to do "nothing that would suggest partiality to one section of the community" and the improvement of the relationship between the Army and the local population following the Army assistance with flood relief in August 1970, the Falls curfew and a situation that was described at the time as "an inflamed sectarian one, which is being deliberately exploited by the IRA and other extremists" meant that relations between the Catholic population and the British Army rapidly deteriorated .[88]

After the riots, the 'Hunt Committee' was set up to examine the RUC. It published its report on 12 October, recommending that the RUC become an unarmed force and the B Specials be disbanded. That night, loyalists took to the streets of Belfast in protest at the report. During violence in the Shankill, UVF members shot dead RUC officer Victor Arbuckle. He was the first RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles.[89] In October and December 1969, the UVF carried out a number of small bombings in the Republic of Ireland.[49]

Loyalist banner and graffiti on a building in the Shankill area of Belfast, 1970

1970 through to 1972 saw an explosion of political violence in Northern Ireland, peaking in 1972, when nearly 500 people, just over half of them civilians, lost their lives. 1972 saw the greatest loss of life throughout the entire conflict.[90]

By the end of 1971, 29 barricades were in place in Derry, blocking access to what was known as Free Derry; 16 of these were impassable even to the British Army's one-ton armoured vehicles.[91] Many of the nationalist/republican "no-go areas" were controlled by one of the two factions of the Irish Republican Army—the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. There are several reasons offered for why violence escalated in these years.

Nationalists pointed to a number of events in these years to explain the upsurge in violence. One such incident was the Falls Curfew in July 1970, when 3,000 troops imposed a curfew on the nationalist Lower Falls area of Belfast, firing more than 1,500 rounds of ammunition in gun battles with the Official IRA and killing four people. Another was the 1971 introduction of internment without trial (of 350 initial detainees, none were Protestants).[94] Moreover, due to poor intelligence,[95] very few of those interned were actually republican activists at the time, but some internees became increasingly radicalised as a result of their experiences.[49]

This was one of the most prominent events that occurred during the Northern Irish Conflict as it was recorded as the largest number of people killed in a single incident during the period.[99]

Bloody Sunday greatly increased the hostility of Catholics and Irish nationalists towards the British military and government while significantly elevating tensions during the Northern Irish Conflict. As a result, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) gained more support, especially through rising numbers of recruits in the local areas.[100]

Following the introduction of internment there were numerous gun battles between the British army and both the Provisional and Official IRA. Between 1971 and 1975, 1,981 people were interned; 1,874 were Catholic/republican, while 107 were Protestant/loyalist.[101] There were widespread allegations of abuse and even torture of detainees,[102][103] and in 1972, the "five techniques" used by the police and army for interrogation were ruled to be illegal following a British government inquiry.[104]

The Provisional IRA, or "Provos", as they became known, sought to establish itself as the defender of the nationalist community.[105][106] The Official IRA (OIRA) began its own armed campaign in reaction to the ongoing violence. The Provisional IRA's offensive campaign began in early 1971 when the Army Council sanctioned attacks on the British Army.[107]

In 1972, the Provisional IRA killed approximately 100 members of the security forces, wounded 500 others, and carried out approximately 1,300 bombings,[108] mostly against commercial targets which they considered "the artificial economy".[90][107][109] The bombing campaign killed many civilians, notably on Bloody Friday on 21 July, when 22 bombs were set off in the centre of Belfast, killing seven civilians and two soldiers.

In the same year, the Official IRA killed dozens of soldiers and wounded several more, mostly through gun attacks, according to the CAIN project's Sutton database. The Official IRA called off its campaign in May 1972.[90][110]

British troop concentrations peaked at 20:1000 of the civilian population, the highest ratio found in the history of counterinsurgency warfare, higher than that achieved during the "Malayan Emergency"/"Anti-British National Liberation War", which the conflict is frequently compared to.[111]Operation Motorman, the military operation for the surge, was the biggest military operation in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence.[112] In total, almost 22,000 British forces were involved,[112] In the days before 31 July, about 4,000 extra troops were brought into Northern Ireland.[112]

Despite a temporary ceasefire in 1972 and talks with British officials, the Provisionals were determined to continue their campaign until the achievement of a united Ireland. The UK government in London, believing the Northern Ireland administration incapable of containing the security situation, sought to take over the control of law and order there. As this was unacceptable to the Northern Ireland Government, the British government pushed through emergency legislation (the Northern Ireland (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972) which suspended the unionist-controlled Stormont parliament and government, and introduced "direct rule" from London. Direct rule was initially intended as a short-term measure; the medium-term strategy was to restore self-government to Northern Ireland on a basis that was acceptable to both unionists and nationalists. Agreement proved elusive, however, and the Troubles continued throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s within a context of political deadlock. The existence of "no-go areas" in Belfast and Derry was a challenge to the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland, and the British Army demolished the barricades and re-established control over the areas in Operation Motorman on 31 July 1972.[49][109]

In June 1973, following the publication of a British White Paper and a referendum in March on the status of Northern Ireland, a new parliamentary body, the Northern Ireland Assembly, was established. Elections to this were held on 28 June. In October 1973, mainstream nationalist and unionist parties, along with the British and Irish governments, negotiated the Sunningdale Agreement, which was intended to produce a political settlement within Northern Ireland, but with a so-called "Irish dimension" involving the Republic. The agreement provided for "power-sharing" – the creation of an executive containing both unionists and nationalists—and a "Council of Ireland" – a body made up of ministers from Northern Ireland and the Republic, designed to encourage cross-border co-operation. The similarities between the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast Agreement of 1998 has led some commentators to characterise the latter as "Sunningdale for slow learners".[113] This assertion has been criticised by political scientists one of whom stated that "..there are... significant differences between them [Sunningdale and Belfast], both in terms of content and the circumstances surrounding their negotiation, implementation, and operation".[114]

British troops and police investigate a couple behind the Europa Hotel. They were taken away.

Protestant graffiti

Belfast street signs with IRA graffiti

Belfast, 1974

Unionists were split over Sunningdale, which was also opposed by the IRA, whose goal remained nothing short of an end to the existence of Northern Ireland as part of the UK. Many unionists opposed the concept of power-sharing, arguing that it was not feasible to share power with those (nationalists) who sought the destruction of the state. Perhaps more significant, however, was the unionist opposition to the "Irish dimension" and the Council of Ireland, which was perceived as being an all-Ireland parliament-in-waiting. Remarks by a young SDLP councillor, Hugh Logue, to an audience at Trinity College Dublin that Sunningdale was the tool "by which the Unionists will be trundled off to a united Ireland" also damaged chances of significant unionist support for the agreement. In January 1974, Brian Faulkner was narrowly deposed as UUP leader and replaced by Harry West. A UK general election in February 1974 gave the anti-Sunningdale unionists the opportunity to test unionist opinion with the slogan "Dublin is only a Sunningdale away", and the result galvanised their opposition: they won 11 of the 12 seats, winning 58% of the vote with most of the rest going to nationalists and pro-Sunningdale unionists.[49][109]

Ultimately, however, the Sunningdale Agreement was brought down by mass action on the part of loyalist paramilitaries (primarily the Ulster Defence Association, at that time over 20,000 strong[citation needed] and workers, who formed the Ulster Workers' Council. They organised a general strike: the Ulster Workers' Council strike. This severely curtailed business in Northern Ireland and cut off essential services such as water and electricity. Nationalists argue that the British Government did not do enough to break this strike and uphold the Sunningdale initiative. There is evidence that the strike was further encouraged by MI5, a part of their campaign to 'disorientate' British prime minister Harold Wilson's government.[115] Faced with such opposition, the pro-Sunningdale unionists resigned from the power-sharing government and the new regime collapsed. Three days into the UWC strike, on 17 May 1974, two UVF teams from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades[71] detonated three no-warning car bombs in Dublin's city centre during the Friday evening rush hour, resulting in 26 deaths and close to 300 injuries. Ninety minutes later, a fourth car bomb exploded in Monaghan, killing seven additional people. Nobody has ever been convicted for these attacks.[49][109]

Wilson had secretly met with the IRA in 1971 while leader of the opposition; his government in late 1974 and early 1975 again met with the IRA to negotiate a ceasefire. During the meetings the parties discussed the possibility of British withdrawal from an independent Northern Ireland. The failure of Sunningdale led to the serious consideration in London until November 1975 of independence. Had the withdrawal occurred —which Wilson supported but others, including James Callaghan, opposed – the region would have become a separate Dominion of the British Commonwealth.[116]

The British negotiations with an illegal organisation angered the Irish government. It did not know their proceedings but feared that the British were considering abandoning Northern Ireland. Foreign Minister Garret FitzGerald discussed in a memorandum of June 1975 the possibilities of orderly withdrawal and independence, repartition of the island or a collapse of Northern Ireland into civil war and anarchy. The memorandum preferred a negotiated independence as the best of the three "worst case scenarios", but concluded that the Irish government could do little.[116]

The Irish government had already failed to prevent the IRA from burning down the British Embassy in 1972. It believed that it could not enlarge the country's small army of 12,500 men without negative consequences. A civil war in Northern Ireland would cause many deaths there and severe consequences for the Republic, as the public would demand that it intervene to protect nationalists. FitzGerald warned Callaghan that the failure to intervene, despite Ireland's inability to do so, would "threaten democratic government in the Republic", which in turn jeopardised British and European security against Communist and other foreign nations.[116]

The Irish government so dreaded the consequences of an independent Northern Ireland that FitzGerald refused to ask the British not to withdraw—as he feared that openly discussing the issue could permit the British to proceed—and other members of government opposed the Irish Cabinet even discussing what FitzGerald referred to as a "doomsday scenario". He wrote in 2006 that "Neither then nor since has public opinion in Ireland realised how close to disaster our whole island came during the last two years of Harold Wilson's premiership."[116]

Merlyn Rees, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, had lifted the proscription against the UVF in April 1974. In December, one month after the Birmingham pub bombings which killed 21 people, the IRA declared a ceasefire; this would theoretically last throughout most of the following year. The ceasefire notwithstanding, sectarian killings actually escalated in 1975, along with internal feuding between rival paramilitary groups. This made 1975 one of the "bloodiest years of the conflict".[71]

On 31 July 1975 at Buskhill, outside Newry, the popular Irish cabaret band "The Miami Showband" was returning home to Dublin after a gig in Banbridge when it was ambushed by gunmen from the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade wearing British Army uniforms at a bogus military roadside checkpoint on the main A1 road. Three of the bandmembers, two Catholics and a Protestant, were shot dead, while two of the UVF men were killed when the bomb they had loaded onto the band's minibus detonated prematurely. The following January, eleven Protestant workers were gunned down in Kingsmill, South Armagh after having been ordered off their bus by an armed republican gang, which called itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force. One man survived despite being shot 18 times, leaving ten fatalities. These killings were reportedly in retaliation to a loyalist double shooting attack against the Reavey and O'Dowd families the previous night.[49][90][109]

The violence continued through the rest of the 1970s. The British Government reinstated the ban against the UVF in October 1975, making it once more an illegal organisation. When the Provisional IRA's December 1974 ceasefire had ended in early 1976 and it had returned to violence, it had lost the hope that it had felt in the early 1970s that it could force a rapid British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, and instead developed a strategy known as the "Long War", which involved a less intense but more sustained campaign of violence that could continue indefinitely. The Official IRA ceasefire of 1972, however, became permanent, and the "Official" movement eventually evolved into the Workers' Party, which rejected violence completely. However, a splinter from the "Officials"—the Irish National Liberation Army—continued a campaign of violence in 1974.[109]

By the late 1970s, war-weariness was visible in both communities. One manifestation of this was the formation of group known as "Peace People", which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. The Peace People organised large demonstrations calling for an end to paramilitary violence. Their campaign lost momentum, however, after they appealed to the nationalist community to provide information on the IRA to security forces.[117]

The decade ended with a double attack by the IRA against the British. On 27 August 1979, Lord Mountbatten while on holiday in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, was killed by a bomb planted on board his boat. Three other people were also killed: Lady Brabourne, the elderly mother of Mountbatten's son-in-law; and two teenagers, a grandson of Mountbatten and a local boatman.[90] That same day, eighteen British soldiers, mostly members of the Parachute Regiment, were killed by two remote-controlled bombs in the Warrenpoint ambush at Warrenpoint, County Down.[71]

Successive British Governments, having failed to achieve a political settlement, tried to "normalise" Northern Ireland. Aspects included the removal of internment without trial and the removal of political status for paramilitary prisoners. From 1972 onward, paramilitaries were tried in juryless Diplock courts to avoid intimidation of jurors. On conviction, they were to be treated as ordinary criminals. Resistance to this policy among republican prisoners led to more than 500 of them in the Maze prison initiating the "blanket" and "dirty" protests. Their protests culminated in hunger strikes in 1980 and 1981, aimed at the restoration of political status, as well as other concessions.[49][109]

In the 1981 Irish hunger strike, ten republican prisoners (seven from the Provisional IRA and three from the INLA) died of starvation. The first hunger striker to die, Bobby Sands, was elected to Parliament on an Anti-H-Block ticket, as was his election agent Owen Carron following Sands' death. The hunger strikes resonated among many nationalists; over 100,000 people[118] attended Sands' funeral mass in West Belfast and thousands attended those of the other hunger strikers. From an Irish republican perspective, the significance of these events was to demonstrate potential for a political and electoral strategy.[119]

In the wake of the hunger strikes, Sinn Féin, which had become the Provisional IRA's political wing,[118][120][121] began to contest elections for the first time in both Northern Ireland (as abstentionists) and in the Republic. In 1986, Sinn Féin recognised the legitimacy of the Irish Dáil, which caused a small group of members to break away and form Republican Sinn Féin.[49]

The INLA was highly active in the early and mid-1980s. In 1982, it bombed a disco frequented by off-duty British soldiers, killing 11 soldiers and six civilians.[90] One of the IRA's most high-profile actions in this period was the Brighton hotel bombing on 12 October 1984, when it set off a 100-pound bomb in the Grand Brighton Hotel in Brighton, where politicians including Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were staying for the Conservative Party conference. The bomb, which exploded in the early hours of the morning, killed five people, including Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry and the wife of Government Chief WhipJohn Wakeham,[90] and thirty-four others were injured, including Wakeham, Trade and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit, and Tebbit's wife, Margaret. Margaret Tebbit was left permanently paralysed, while her husband's injuries were less serious.[122]

On 28 February 1985 in Newry, nine RUC officers, seven Protestants and two Catholics, were killed after a mortar attack on the police station in Corry Square. The attack was planned by the IRA South Armagh Brigade and an IRA unit in Newry. Nine shells were fired from a Mark 10 mortar which was bolted onto the back of a hijacked Ford van in Crossmaglen. Eight shells overshot the station, but the ninth hit a Portakabin which was being used as a canteen. On 8 November 1987, in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, a Provisional IRA time bomb exploded during a parade on Remembrance Day to commemorate victims of World War One. The bomb went off by a cenotaph which was at the heart of the parade. Eleven people (ten civilians, including a pregnant woman, and one serving member of the RUC) were killed and 63 were injured. Former school headmaster Ronnie Hill was seriously injured in the bombing and slipped into a coma two days later, remaining in this condition for more than a decade before his death in December 2000.[123] The IRA eventually apologised for what it claimed had been a mistake and that its target had been the British soldiers parading to the memorial. The unit which carried out the bombing was disbanded. Loyalist paramilitaries responded to the bombing with revenge attacks on Catholics, mostly civilians. Another bomb had been planted at nearby Tullyhommon at a parallel Remembrance Day commemoration but failed to detonate.[109]

Four months after the Enniskillen attacks, three IRA volunteers were shot dead at a Shell petrol station on Winston Churchill Avenue in Gibraltar, the British colony attached to the south of Spain. This became known as Operation Flavius. Their funeral at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast was attacked by Michael Stone, a UDA member who threw grenades and fired shots as the coffin was lowered. The attack killed three people, including an IRA volunteer. Stone was jailed for life the following year but freed 11 years later under the Good Friday Agreement.[124]

When two British soldiers, David Howes and Derek Wood, drove into the joint funeral in Andersonstown being held for the three men killed by Stone, they were found to be armed, and were captured, taken away and shot dead. This became known as the Corporals killings.[49][109]

In the 1980s, loyalist paramilitary groups, including the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Resistance, imported arms and explosives from South Africa.[71] The weapons obtained were divided between the UDA, the UVF and Ulster Resistance, although some of the weaponry (such as rocket-propelled grenades) were hardly used. These killings were reportedly in response to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave the Irish government a "consultative role" in the government of Northern Ireland.[49][109] In 1987, the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO), a breakaway faction of the INLA, engaged in a bloody feud against the INLA which weakened the INLA's presence in some areas. By 1992, the IPLO was destroyed by the Provisionals for its involvement in drug dealing thus ending the feud.[49]

Around this time republicans alleged that a "shoot-to-kill policy" had been formed in Northern Ireland, in which tens of republican paramilitaries and one loyalist paramilitary were killed on active duty, usually by the SAS or RUC.[citation needed]

Since the late 1980s, while the IRA continued its armed campaign, its political wing Sinn Féin, led since 1983 by Gerry Adams, sought a negotiated end to the conflict, although Adams accurately predicted that this would be a very long process. He predicted the war would last another 20 years. He conducted open talks with John Hume – the SDLP leader – and secret talks with government officials. Loyalists were also engaged in behind-the-scenes talks to end the violence, connecting with the British and Irish governments through Protestant clergy, in particular the Presbyterian minister, Reverend Roy Magee and Anglican Archbishop Robin Eames.[citation needed]

When a French TV crew filmed the IRA at a training camp in Donegal, a representative for the General Headquarters Staff of the IRA was interviewed. He said the IRA would "[E]ventually sap the political will of the British government to remain in Ireland".[citation needed]

In the 1990s, the IRA came up with a new plan to restrict British Army foot patrols near Crossmaglen. They developed two sniper teams to attack British Army and RUC patrols.[126] They usually fired from an improvised armoured car using a .50 BMG calibre M82 sniper rifle. Signs were put up around South Armagh reading "Sniper at Work". The snipers killed a total of nine members of the security forces: seven soldiers and two constables. The last to be killed before the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), was a British soldier, bombardier Steven Restorick.

The IRA had developed the capacity to attack helicopters in South Armagh and elsewhere since the 1980s,[127] including the 1990 shootdown of a Gazelle flying over the border between Tyrone and Monaghan; there were no fatalities in that incident.[128]

After a prolonged period of background political manoeuvring, both loyalist and republican paramilitary groups declared ceasefires in 1994. The year leading up to the ceasefires was a particularly tense one, marked by atrocities. The UDA and UVF stepped up their attacks. The IRA responded with the Shankill Road bombing in October 1993, which aimed to kill the UDA leadership, but killed eight Protestant civilian shoppers and one low-ranking UDA member, as well as one of the perpetrators, who was killed when the bomb detonated prematurely. The UDA retaliated with mass shootings in nationalist areas such as Greysteel and Castlerock. Twelve people were killed at Greysteel and Castlerock, all but two of whom were Catholic.[49]

On 16 June 1994, just before the ceasefires, the Irish National Liberation Army killed a UVF member in a gun attack on the Shankill Road. In revenge, three days later, the UVF killed six civilians in a shooting at a pub in Loughinisland, County Down. The IRA, in the remaining month before its ceasefire, killed four senior loyalist paramilitaries, three from the UDA and one from the UVF. On 31 August 1994, the IRA declared a ceasefire. The loyalist paramilitaries, temporarily united in the "Combined Loyalist Military Command", reciprocated six weeks later. Although these ceasefires failed in the short run, they marked an effective end to large-scale political violence, as they paved the way for the final ceasefires.[49][109]

In 1995, the United States appointed George Mitchell as the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Mitchell was recognised as being more than a token envoy and someone representing a President (Bill Clinton) with a deep interest in events.[131] The British and Irish governments agreed that Mitchell would chair an international commission on disarmament of paramilitary groups.[132]

On 9 February 1996, less than two years after the declaration of the ceasefire, the IRA revoked it with the Docklands bombing in the Canary Wharf area of London, killing two people, injuring 39 others,[133] and causing £85 million in damage to the city's financial centre. Sinn Féin blamed the failure of the ceasefire on the British Government's refusal to begin all-party negotiations until the IRA decommissioned its weapons.[134]

The destruction caused by the Docklands bombing in London, 1996.

The attack was followed by several more, most notably the 1996 Manchester bombing, which destroyed a large area of the centre of the city on 15 June. It was the largest bomb attack in Britain since World War II. While the attack avoided any fatalities due to a telephone warning and the rapid response of the emergency services to it, over 200 people were injured in the attack, many of them outside the established cordon. The damage caused by the blast was estimated at £411 million. Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier killed before the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) was finalised, was shot dead at a border crossing on 12 February 1997 by the "South Armagh sniper", later identified as Bernard Henry McGinn.[135]

The IRA reinstated their ceasefire in July 1997, as negotiations for the document that became known as the Good Friday Agreement began without Sinn Féin. In September of the same year Sinn Féin signed the Mitchell Principles and were admitted to the talks. The UVF was the first paramilitary grouping to split as a result of their ceasefire, spawning the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) in 1996. In December 1997, the INLA assassinated LVF leader Billy Wright, leading to a series of revenge killings by loyalist groups. A group split from the Provisional IRA and formed the Real IRA (RIRA).[136]

In August 1998, a Real IRA bomb in Omagh killed 29 civilians. This bombing discredited "dissident republicans" and their campaigns in the eyes of many who had previously supported the Provisionals' campaign. They became small groups with little influence, but still capable of violence.[137]

The INLA also declared a ceasefire after the Belfast Agreement of 1998. Since then, most paramilitary violence has been directed at their "own" communities and at other factions within their organisations. The UDA, for example, has feuded with their fellow loyalists the UVF on two occasions since 2000. There have been internal struggles for power between "brigade commanders" and involvement in organised crime.[138]

Provisional IRA members have since been accused or convicted of involvement in the killings of Robert McCartney, Matthew Burns, James Curran, and Andrew Kearney, among others.

A republican mural in Belfast during the mid-1990s. It bids "safe home" (Slán Abhaile) to British troops. Security normalisation was one of the key points of the Good Friday Agreement.

After the ceasefires, talks began between the main political parties in Northern Ireland to establish political agreement. These talks led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This Agreement restored self-government to Northern Ireland on the basis of "power-sharing". In 1999, an executive was formed consisting of the four main parties, including Sinn Féin. Other important changes included the reform of the RUC, renamed as the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which was required to recruit at least a 50% quota of Catholics for ten years, and the abolition of Diplock courts under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007.[139]

A security normalisation process also began as part of the treaty, which comprised the progressive closing of redundant British Army barracks, border observation towers, and the withdrawal of all forces taking part in Operation Banner – including the resident battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment – that would be replaced by an infantry brigade, deployed in ten sites around Northern Ireland but with no operative role in the province.[140]

The power-sharing Executive and Assembly were suspended in 2002, when unionists withdrew following "Stormontgate", a controversy over allegations of an IRA spy ring operating at Stormont. There were ongoing tensions about the Provisional IRA's failure to disarm fully and sufficiently quickly. IRA decommissioning has since been completed (in September 2005) to the satisfaction of most parties.[141]

A feature of Northern Ireland politics since the Agreement has been the eclipse in electoral terms of parties such as the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Ulster Unionist Party, by rival parties such as Sinn Féin and the DUP. Similarly, although political violence is greatly reduced, sectarian animosity has not disappeared. Residential areas are more segregated between Catholic nationalists and Protestant unionists than ever.[142] Thus, progress towards restoring the power-sharing institutions was slow and tortuous. On 8 May 2007, devolved government returned to Northern Ireland. DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness took office as First Minister and deputy First Minister, respectively.[143]

A republican mural in Belfast with the slogan "Collusion is not an illusion"

In their efforts to defeat the IRA, there were many incidents of collusion between the British state security forces (the British Army and RUC) and loyalist paramilitaries. This included soldiers and policemen taking part in loyalist attacks while off-duty, giving weapons and intelligence to loyalists, not taking action against them, and hindering police investigations. The De Silva Report found that, during the 1980s, 85% of the intelligence loyalists used to target people came from the security forces.[144] The security forces also had double agents and informers within loyalist groups who organised attacks on the orders of, or with the knowledge of, their handlers. Of the 210 loyalists arrested by the Stevens Inquiries team, 207 were found to be state agents or informers.[145]

Despite the vetting process, some loyalist militants managed to enlist; mainly to obtain weapons, training and information.[148] By 1990, at least 197 UDR soldiers had been convicted of loyalist terrorist offences and other serious crimes, including 19 convicted of murder.[149] This was only a small fraction of those who served in it, but the proportion was higher than the regular British Army, the RUC and the civilian population.[150]

During the 1970s, the Glenanne gang—a secret alliance of loyalist militants, British soldiers and RUC officers—carried out a string of gun and bomb attacks against nationalists in an area of Northern Ireland known as the "murder triangle".[151][152] It also carried out some attacks in the Republic, killing about 120 people in total, mostly uninvolved civilians.[153] The Cassel Report investigated 76 murders attributed to the group and found evidence that soldiers and policemen were involved in 74 of those.[154] One member, RUC officer John Weir, claimed his superiors knew of the collusion but allowed it to continue.[155] The Cassel Report also said some senior officers knew of the crimes but did nothing to prevent, investigate or punish.[154] Attacks attributed to the group include the Dublin and Monaghan bombings (1974), the Miami Showband killings (1975) and the Reavey and O'Dowd killings (1976).[156]

The Stevens Inquiries found that elements of the security forces had used loyalists as "proxies",[157] who, via, double-agents and informers, had helped loyalist groups to kill targeted individuals, usually suspected republicans but civilians were also killed, intentionally and otherwise. The inquiries concluded this had intensified and prolonged the conflict.[158][159] The British Army's Force Research Unit (FRU) was the main agency involved.[157]Brian Nelson, the UDA's chief 'intelligence officer', was a FRU agent.[160] Through Nelson, FRU helped loyalists target people for assassination. FRU commanders say they helped loyalists target only republican activists and prevented the killing of civilians.[157]

The Inquiries found evidence only two lives were saved and that Nelson/FRU was responsible for at least 30 murders and many other attacks – many on civilians.[158] One victim was solicitor Pat Finucane. Nelson also supervised the shipping of weapons to loyalists in 1988.[160] From 1992 to 1994, loyalists were responsible for more deaths than republicans,[161] partly due to FRU.[162][163] Members of the security forces tried to obstruct the Stevens investigation.[159][164]

A 2007 Police Ombudsman report revealed that UVF members had been allowed to commit a string of terrorist offences, including murder, while working as informers for RUC Special Branch. It found that Special Branch had given informers immunity by ensuring they weren't caught or convicted, and blocking weapons searches.[165] Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan concluded that this had led to "hundreds" of deaths[145] and said senior British Government officials pressured her into halting her investigation.[166] UVF member Robin Jackson has been linked to between 50[167][168] and 100[152] killings in Northern Ireland, although he was never convicted for any.[169] It is alleged by many, including members of the security forces, that Jackson was an RUC agent.[169] The Irish Government's Barron Report alleged that he also "had relationships with British Intelligence".[170]

During the 1970s and 1980s, republican and loyalist paramilitaries abducted a number of individuals, many alleged to have been informers, to be interrogated under torture and then executed.[171] Eighteen people—two women and sixteen men—including one British Army officer, were kidnapped and killed during the Troubles. They are referred to informally as "The Disappeared". All but one, Lisa Dorrian, were abducted and killed by republicans. Dorrian is believed to have been abducted by loyalists. The remains of all but four of "The Disappeared" have been recovered and turned over to their families.[172][173][174]

British government security forces, including the Military Reaction Force (MRF), carried out what have been described as "extrajudicial killings" of unarmed civilians.[175][176][177] Their victims were often Catholic or suspected Catholic civilians unaffiliated with any paramilitaries, such as 12 May 1972 Andersonstown shooting of seven unarmed Catholic civilians and 15 April 1972 Whiterock Road shooting of two unarmed Catholic civilians by British soldiers.[178] A member of the MRF stated in 1978 that the Army often attempted false flag sectarian attacks, thus provoking sectarian conflict and "taking the heat off the Army".[179] A former member stated that "[W]e were not there to act like an army unit, we were there to act like a terror group".[180]

Republicans allege that the security forces operated a shoot-to-kill policy rather than arresting IRA suspects. The security forces denied this and point out that in incidents such as the killing of eight IRA men at Loughgall in 1987, the IRA members who were killed were heavily armed. Others argue that incidents such as the shooting of three unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar by the Special Air Service ten months later confirmed suspicions among republicans, and in the British and Irish media, of a tacit British shoot-to-kill policy of suspected IRA members.[181]

Inter-communal tensions rise and violence often breaks out during the "marching season" when the Protestant Orange Order parades take place across Northern Ireland. The parades are held to commemorate William of Orange's victory in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, which secured the Protestant Ascendancy and British rule in Ireland. One particular flashpoint which has caused continuous annual strife is the Garvaghy Road area in Portadown, where an Orange parade from Drumcree Church passes through a mainly nationalist estate off the Garvaghy Road. This parade has now been banned indefinitely, following nationalist riots against the parade, and also loyalist counter-riots against its banning.

In 1995, 1996 and 1997, there were several weeks of prolonged rioting throughout Northern Ireland over the impasse at Drumcree. A number of people died in this violence, including a Catholic taxi driver, killed by the Loyalist Volunteer Force, and three (of four) nominally Catholic brothers (from a mixed-religion family) died when their house in Ballymoney was petrol-bombed.[182][183][184]

The impact of the Troubles on the ordinary people of Northern Ireland has been compared to that of the Blitz on the people of London.[185] The stress resulting from bomb attacks, street disturbances, security checkpoints, and the constant military presence had the strongest effect on children and young adults.[186] There was also the fear that local paramilitaries instilled in their respective communities with the punishment beatings, "romperings", and the occasional tarring and feathering meted out to individuals for various purported infractions.[187]

In addition to the violence and intimidation, there was chronic unemployment and a severe housing shortage. Many people were rendered homeless as a result of intimidation or having their houses burnt, and urban redevelopment played a role in the social upheaval. Belfast families faced being transferred to new, alien estates when older, decrepit districts such as Sailortown and the Pound Loney were being demolished. According to social worker and author Sarah Nelson, this new social problem of homelessness and disorientation contributed to the breakdown of the normal fabric of society, allowing for paramilitaries to exert a strong influence in certain districts.[187] Vandalism was also a major problem. In the 1970s there were 10,000 vandalised empty houses in Belfast alone. Most of the vandals were aged between eight and thirteen.[188]

According to one historian of the conflict, the stress of the Troubles engendered a breakdown in the previously strict sexual morality of Northern Ireland, resulting in a "confused hedonism" in respect of personal life.[189] In Derry, illegitimate births and alcoholism increased for women and the divorce rate rose.[190] Teenage alcoholism was also a problem, partly as a result of the drinking clubs established in both loyalist and republican areas. In many cases, there was little parental supervision of children in some of the poorer districts.[191] The Department of Health has looked at a report written in 2007 by Mike Tomlinson of Queen's University, which asserted that the legacy of the Troubles has played a substantial role in the current rate of suicide in Northern Ireland.[192]

According to the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), 3,532 people were killed as a result of the conflict, from 1969 to 2001.[193] Of these, 3,489 were killed from 1969 to 1998.[193] According to the book Lost Lives (2006 edition), 3,720 people were killed as a result of the conflict, from 1966 to 2006. Of these, 3,635 were killed from 1969 to 1998.[194] There are reports that 257 of the victims were children under the age of seventeen, representing 7.2% of all the total during this period.[195] Other reports state that a total of 274 children under the age of eighteen were killed during the conflict.[196]

In The Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland, Brendan O'Leary and John McGarry point out that "nearly two per cent of the population of Northern Ireland have been killed or injured through political violence [...] If the equivalent ratio of victims to population had been produced in Great Britain in the same period some 100,000 people would have died, and if a similar level of political violence had taken place, the number of fatalities in the USA would have been over 500,000".[197] Using this relative comparison to the US, analyst John M. Gates suggests that whatever one calls the conflict, it was "certainly not" a "low intensity conflict".[198]

In 2010 it was estimated that 107,000 people in Northern Ireland suffered some physical injury as a result of the conflict. On the basis of data gathered by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, the Victims Commission estimated that the conflict resulted in 500,000 'victims' in Northern Ireland alone. It defines 'victims' are those who are directly affected by 'bereavement', 'physical injury' or 'trauma' as a result of the conflict.[199]

Thus while republican paramilitaries caused the greatest number of deaths overall, they caused fewer civilian deaths than loyalist paramilitaries, and had a lower civilian-to-combatant casualty ratio than either of the other two belligerents.

Approximately 52% of the dead were civilians, 32% were members/former members of the British security forces, 11% were members of republican paramilitaries, and 5% were members of loyalist paramilitaries.[200] About 60% of the civilian casualties were Catholics, 30% were Protestants, and the rest were from outside Northern Ireland.[202]

Of the civilian casualties, 48% were killed by loyalists, 39% were killed by republicans, and 10% were killed by the British security forces.[201]

It has been the subject of dispute whether some individuals were members of paramilitary organisations due to their secretive nature. Several casualties that were listed as civilians were later claimed by the IRA as their members.[203] One Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and three Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) members killed during the conflict were also Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers at the time of their deaths.[204] At least one civilian victim was an off-duty member of the Territorial Army.[205]

Most killings took place within Northern Ireland, especially in Belfast. Most of the killings in Belfast took place in the west and north of the city. Dublin, London and Birmingham were also affected, albeit to a lesser degree than Northern Ireland itself. Occasionally, the IRA attempted or carried out attacks on British targets in Gibraltar, Germany and the Netherlands.

^ abc"The troubles were over, but the killing continued. Some of the heirs to Ireland's violent traditions refused to give up their inheritance."
Jack Holland: Hope against History: The Course of Conflict in Northern Ireland. Henry Holt & Company, 1999, p. 221; ISBN0-8050-6087-1

^ abMitchell, Claire (2013). Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland. Ashgate Publishing. p. 5. The most popular school of thought on religion is encapsulated in McGarry and O'Leary's Explaining Northern Ireland (1995), and it is echoed by Coulter (1999) and Clayton (1998). The central argument is that religion is an ethnic marker, but that it is not generally politically relevant in and of itself. Instead, ethnonationalism lies at the root of the conflict. Hayes and McAllister (1999a) point out that this represents something of an academic consensus.

^Joanne McEvoy. The Politics of Northern Ireland. Edinburgh University Press, 2008. p. 1. Quote: "the Northern Ireland conflict, known locally as 'the Troubles', endured for three decades and claimed the lives of more than 3,500 people".

^David McKittrick & David McVea. Making Sense of the Troubles: A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Penguin, 2001.

^Gordon Gillespie. The A to Z of the Northern Ireland Conflict. Scarecrow Press, 2009.

^ abMarianne Elliot. The Long Road to Peace in Northern Ireland: Peace Lectures from the Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University. University of Liverpool Institute of Irish Studies, Liverpool University Press, 2007, pp. 2, 188; ISBN1-84631-065-2.

^Richard Jenkins (1997). Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations. SAGE Publications. p. 120. It should, I think, be apparent that the Northern Irish conflict is not a religious conflict... Although religion has a place—and indeed an important one—in the repertoire of conflict in Northern Ireland, the majority of participants see the situation as primarily concerned with matters of politics and nationalism, not religion. And there is no reason to disagree with them.

^ abParliamentary debate: "The British government agree that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish."

^Lord Cameron, Disturbances in Northern Ireland: Report of the Commission appointed by the Governor of Northern Ireland (Belfast, 1969). Chapter 16. Quote: "While there is evidence that members of the I.R.A. are active in the organisation, there is no sign that they are in any sense dominant or in a position to control or direct policy of the Civil Rights Association."

^M.L.R. Smith (2002). Fighting for Ireland?: The Military Strategy of the Irish Republican Movement. Routledge. p. 81. Republicans were instrumental in setting up NICRA itself, though they did not control the Association and remained a minority faction within it.

^Bob Purdie. "Chapter 4: The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association". Politics in the Streets: The origins of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. Blackstaff Press. There is also clear evidence that the republicans were not actually in control of NICRA in the period up to and including the 5 October march.

^Clayton, Pamela (1996). Enemies and Passing Friends: Settler ideologies in twentieth-century Ulster. Pluto Press. p. 156. More recently, the resurgence in loyalist violence that led to their carrying out more killings than republicans from the beginning of 1992 until their ceasefire (a fact widely reported in Northern Ireland) was still described as following 'the IRA's well-tested tactic of trying to usurp the political process by violence'……

^Maxine Williams.Murder on the RockArchived 4 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine., rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk. Retrieved 17 March 2015. The article includes a list of suspected shoot-to-kill victims between 1982 and 1986.

David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney and Chris Thornton (1999), Lost Lives: The stories of the men, women and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland troubles, Mainstream Publishing Company; ISBN1-84018-227-X.

Richard Bourke, Peace In Ireland: The War of Ideas (Random House, 2003).

Richard English, Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA, Oxford University Press (2003); ISBN0-19-517753-3

Richard English, The Interplay of Non-violent and Violent Action in Northern Ireland, 1967–72, in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.), Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2009; ISBN978-0-19-955201-6.

1.
Northern Ireland
–
Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population. Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament, Northern Ireland has historically been the most industrialised region of Ireland. After declining as a result of the political and social turmoil of the Troubles, its economy has grown significantly since the late 1990s. Unemployment in Northern Ireland peaked at 17. 2% in 1986, dropping to 6. 1% for June–August 2014,58. 2% of those unemployed had been unemployed for over a year. Prominent artists and sports persons from Northern Ireland include Van Morrison, Rory McIlroy, Joey Dunlop, Wayne McCullough, some people from Northern Ireland prefer to identify as Irish while others prefer to identify as British. Cultural links between Northern Ireland, the rest of Ireland, and the rest of the UK are complex, in many sports, the island of Ireland fields a single team, a notable exception being association football. Northern Ireland competes separately at the Commonwealth Games, and people from Northern Ireland may compete for either Great Britain or Ireland at the Olympic Games. The region that is now Northern Ireland was the bedrock of the Irish war of resistance against English programmes of colonialism in the late 16th century, the English-controlled Kingdom of Ireland had been declared by the English king Henry VIII in 1542, but Irish resistance made English control fragmentary. Victories by English forces in war and further Protestant victories in the Williamite War in Ireland toward the close of the 17th century solidified Anglican rule in Ireland. In Northern Ireland, the victories of the Siege of Derry and their intention was to materially disadvantage the Catholic community and, to a lesser extent, the Presbyterian community. In the context of open institutional discrimination, the 18th century saw secret, militant societies develop in communities in the region and act on sectarian tensions in violent attacks. Following this, in an attempt to quell sectarianism and force the removal of discriminatory laws, the new state, formed in 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was governed from a single government and parliament based in London. Between 1717 and 1775 some 250,000 people from Ulster emigrated to the British North American colonies and it is estimated that there are more than 27 million Scotch-Irish Americans now living in the US. By the close of the century, autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom, in 1912, after decades of obstruction from the House of Lords, Home Rule became a near-certainty. A clash between the House of Commons and House of Lords over a controversial budget produced the Parliament Act 1911, which enabled the veto of the Lords to be overturned. The House of Lords veto had been the unionists main guarantee that Home Rule would not be enacted, in 1914, they smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition from Imperial Germany for use by the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary organisation opposed to the implementation of Home Rule

2.
Republic of Ireland
–
Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%

3.
Continental Europe
–
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe, or, by Europeans, simply the Continent, is the continuous continent of Europe, excluding surrounding islands. This historical core of Carolingian Europe was consciously invoked in the 1950s as the historical basis for the prospective European integration. In both Great Britain and Ireland, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe, an apocryphal British newspaper headline supposedly once read, Fog in Channel, Continent Cut Off. It has also claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s. In addition, the word Europe itself is regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland. The term mainland Europe is also sometimes used, derivatively, the adjective continental refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe. Examples include breakfast, topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving often known as Grand Touring. Differences include electrical plugs, time zones for the most part, the use of traffic, and for the United Kingdom, currency. Britain is physically connected to continental Europe through the undersea Channel Tunnel and this route is popular with refugees and migrants seeking to enter the UK. Especially in Germanic studies, continental refers to the European continent excluding the Scandinavian peninsula, Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe, kontinenten is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to the area excluding Sweden, Norway, and Finland but including Denmark and the rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about Kontinentet as an entity, usually referring to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries. Today, the Scandinavian peninsula is accessible by train and road with several bridge/tunnel structures connecting the Danish peninsula of Jutland to Scania in Sweden. The Continent may sometimes refer to the part of Italy, the continental part of Spain, the continental part of France. The term is used from the perspective of the residents of each country to describe the continental portion of their country or the continent as a whole. Continental philosophy Geopolitical divisions of Europe Geographical midpoint of Europe Mainland Western Europe Hajnal line

4.
Good Friday Agreement
–
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s. Northern Irelands present devolved system of government is based on the agreement, the agreement also created a number of institutions between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The agreement set out a series of provisions relating to a number of areas including, The status. The relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Issues relating to sovereignty, civil and cultural rights, decommissioning of weapons, justice, the agreement was approved by voters across the island of Ireland in two referendums held on 22 May 1998. In Northern Ireland, voters were asked whether they supported the multi-party agreement, in the Republic of Ireland, voters were asked whether they would allow the state to sign the agreement and allow necessary constitutional changes to facilitate it. The people of both jurisdictions needed to approve the agreement in order to effect to it. The British-Irish Agreement came into force on 2 December 1999, the Democratic Unionist Party was the only major political group in Northern Ireland to oppose the Good Friday Agreement. The former text has just four articles, it is that text that is the legal agreement. Technically, this scheduled agreement can be distinguished as the Multi-Party Agreement, the vague wording of some of the provisions, described as constructive ambiguity, helped ensure acceptance of the agreement and served to postpone debate on some of the more contentious issues. Most notably these included paramilitary decommissioning, police reform and the normalisation of Northern Ireland, both of these views were acknowledged as being legitimate. For the first time, the government of the Republic of Ireland accepted in an international agreement that Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the language of the agreement reflects a switch in the United Kingdoms statutory emphasis from one for the union to one for a united Ireland, the agreement thus left the issue of future sovereignty over Northern Ireland open-ended. The agreement reached was that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom until a majority both of the people of Northern Ireland and of the Republic of Ireland wished otherwise. Should that happen, then the British and Irish governments are under an obligation to implement that choice. The two governments also agreed, irrespective of the position of Northern Ireland, in its white paper on Brexit the United Kingdom government reiterated its commitment to the Belfast Agreement. The agreement sets out a framework for the creation and number of institutions across three strands, the Northern Ireland Executive is a power-sharing executive with ministerial portfolios to be allocated between parties by the dHondt method. Strand 2 dealt with issues and institutions to be created between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

5.
St Andrews Agreement
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The St Andrews Agreement was an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Irelands political parties in relation to the devolution of power in the region. The governments plan envisaged the devolution of policing and justice powers within two years from the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the parties were given until 10 November 2006 to respond to the draft agreement. The first and deputy first minister would be appointed on 24 November 2006, there was a target date of 26 March 2007 for a new executive to be up and running, after a general election on 7 March 2007. The Northern Ireland Act 2006, which implemented the agreement, received Royal Assent on 22 November 2006, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain called the agreement an astonishing breakthrough on BBC Radio Five Live. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that if the set by the two governments were not met, the plan falters and there will be a move to plan B with no more discussions. Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley said, Unionists can have confidence that its interests are being advanced and he also said, Delivering on the pivotal issue of policing and the rule of law starts now. Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that the plans needed to be consulted on, ulster Unionist Party leader Reg Empey described the agreement as the Belfast Agreement for slow learners. Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Mark Durkan said welcome progress had made towards restoring the power sharing institutions. Alliance Party leader David Ford said the outcome was a mix of challenges and opportunities, the Joint Statement of 13 October stated that the governments had asked parties, having consulted their members, to confirm their acceptance by 10 November. Although neither statement constituted acceptance of the agreement, both maintained that there was sufficient endorsement from all parties to continue the process. The Joint Statement stated that the Assembly will meet to nominate the First, in the days preceding the Assembly meeting the two governments said that it would be sufficient for the parties to indicate who their nominations for First and Deputy First Minister would be. Gerry Adams nominated Martin McGuinness for the post of Deputy First Minister, both governments maintained that this was sufficient indication for the process to continue. Or if this does not happen within the St Andrews time frame, the DUP gave a cautious welcome to the move, but without making any overt commitment on the devolution of policing and justice by May 2008. On 30 January, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach confirmed that Assembly elections would go ahead as planned on 7 March, in the Assembly elections, the DUP and Sinn Féin both gained seats, thus consolidating their position as the two largest parties in the Assembly. Peter Hain signed the order to restore the institutions on 25 March, warning that if the parties failed to reach agreement by midnight the following day, the agreement was welcomed by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern. On 27 March emergency legislation was introduced into the British Parliament to facilitate the six-week delay, the Northern Ireland Bill was passed without a vote in both the Commons and the Lords and received Royal Assent, as the Northern Ireland Act 2007, the same evening. The Assembly met on 8 May 2007 and elected Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as First Minister and it also ratified the ten ministers as nominated by their parties. On 12 May the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle agreed to take up three places on the Policing Board, and nominated three MLAs to take them and this shows we are set for a new course

6.
Operation Banner
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Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in the British militarys history, the British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland, at the peak of the operation in the 1970s, about 21,000 British troops were deployed, most of them from Britain. As part of the operation, a new locally-recruited regiment was also formed, the main opposition to the British militarys deployment came from the Provisional Irish Republican Army. It waged a campaign against the British military from 1970 to 1997. There was also much hostility to the British militarys deployment from the Catholic community, particularly due to such as the Falls Curfew, Operation Demetrius. In their efforts to defeat the IRA, there were incidents of collusion between the British Army and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries, after the 1998 Belfast Agreement, the operation was gradually scaled down and the vast majority of British troops were withdrawn. The British military killed 306 people during the operation, about 51% of whom were civilians, the support to the police forces was primarily from the British Army, with the Royal Air Force providing helicopter support as required. A maritime component was supplied under the codename of Operation Grenada, by the Royal Navy, the military can provide soldiers to protect and, if necessary, supplement police lines and cordons. By 1980, the figure had dropped to 11,000, the total climbed again to 10,500 after the intensification of the IRA use of barrack busters toward the end of the 1980s. In 1992, there were 17,750 members of all British military forces taking part in the operation, the British Army build-up comprised three brigades under the command of a lieutenant-general. There were six resident battalions deployed for a period of two and a half years and four roulement battalions serving six-months tours. In July 1997, during the course of fierce riots in nationalist areas triggered by the Drumcree conflict, according to one study, the British military killed 306 people during Operation Banner,156 of whom were unarmed civilians. Another study says the British military killed 301 people,160 of whom were unarmed civilians, of the civilians killed,61 were children. Only four soldiers were convicted of murder while on duty in Northern Ireland, all were released after serving two or three years of life sentences and allowed to rejoin the Army. Elements of the British Army also colluded with illegal loyalist paramilitaries responsible for attacks on civilians. Journalist Fintan OToole argues that both militarily and ideologically, the Army was a player, not a referee, many Catholics initially welcomed the British Armys deployment, as Catholic neighbourhoods had been attacked by Protestant loyalists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. However, relations soured between the British Army and Catholics, the British Armys actions in support of the RUC and the unionist government gradually earned it a reputation of bias in favour of Protestants and unionists

7.
Dissident Irish Republican campaign
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The main paramilitaries involved are the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann. They have targeted the British Army and Police Service of Northern Ireland in gun and bomb attacks, as well as with mortars and they have also carried out bombings that are meant to cause disruption. However, their campaign has not been as intensive as the Provisional IRAs, in 2007, the British government declared the end of Operation Banner, ending the four-decade long deployment of the British Army in Northern Ireland. As a result, the PSNI has since been the target of attacks. The dissident republican campaign began towards the end of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of May 1998 is generally seen as marking the end of the Troubles. Like the Provisional IRA, the main Ulster loyalist paramilitaries have also been on ceasefire, however, dissident loyalists have continued to engage in terrorist actions and violence also, although it is mostly unrelated to the republican campaign. To date, two British soldiers, two PSNI officers and two Prison Service guard have been killed as part of the republican campaign. At least 105 civilians have also killed by republican and loyalist paramilitaries,29 of whom died in the Omagh bombing carried out by the Real IRA. For a timeline of the campaign, see the timelines of Real IRA actions, Continuity IRA actions and Óglaigh na hÉireann actions. As a belligerent in what would come to be known as the Troubles, in August 1994, the Provisional IRA called a ceasefire. In January 1996 the Continuity IRA announced its existence and vowed to continue the campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland. A month later, the Provisional IRA called-off its ceasefire because of its dissatisfaction with the state of the peace negotiations, on 13 July, the CIRA detonated a car bomb outside Kilyhelvin Hotel in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. The blast caused damage and injured 17 people as they were being evacuated from the hotel. Over the following year it planted another three cars bombs in Belfast, Derry and Fermanagh, but all were defused by the British Army, the Provisional IRA called a second ceasefire in July 1997. On 16 September the CIRA detonated a van bomb outside the Royal Ulster Constabulary base in Markethill, the bombing happened a day after Sinn Féin joined the political negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement. In November 1997, high-ranking Provisional IRA members who opposed the ceasefire formed a group that would become known as the Real IRA. During the first half of 1998 the Real IRA and Continuity IRA launched a string of car bomb, there were car bombings in Moira on 20 February and in Portadown on 23 February. There was an attack on Armagh RUC base on 10 March

8.
British Armed Forces
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They also promote Britains wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts, and provide humanitarian aid. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the leading military. The Commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the armed forces by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, as required by the Bill of Rights 1689. The armed forces are managed by the Defence Council of the Ministry of Defence, with the Acts of Union 1707, the armed forces of England and Scotland were merged into the armed forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Britain feared that Russian expansionism in the region would eventually threaten the Empire in India and this ultimately led to British involvement in the Crimean War against the Russian Empire. The beginning of the twentieth century served to reduce tensions between Britain and the Russian Empire, partly due to the emergence of a unified German Empire. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Central Powers, the end of the German Empire, the Treaty of Versailles, once again tensions accumulated in European relations, and following Germanys invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Second World War began. The conflict was the most widespread in British history, with British Empire and Commonwealth troops fighting in campaigns from Europe and North Africa, to the Middle East, approximately 390,000 British Empire and Commonwealth troops lost their lives. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Axis powers and the establishment of the United Nations, reflecting Britains new role in the world and the escalation of the Cold War, the country became a founding member of the NATO military alliance in 1949. By the mid-1970s, the forces had reconfigured to focus on the responsibilities allocated to them by NATO. While NATO obligations took increased prominence, Britain nonetheless found itself engaged in a number of low-intensity conflicts, however the Dhofar Rebellion and The Troubles emerged as the primary operational concerns of the armed forces. Perhaps the most important conflict during the Cold War, at least in the context of British defence policy, was the Falklands War. Since the end of the Cold War, an international role for the armed forces has been pursued, with re-structuring to deliver a greater focus on expeditionary warfare. In addition to the campaign, the British Army has trained and supplied allies on the ground. Figures released by the Ministry of Defence on 31 March 2016 show that 7,185 British Armed Forces personnel have lost their lives in medal earning theatres since the end of the Second World War. As Sovereign and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II is Head of the Armed Forces, the Queen, however, remains the ultimate authority of the military, with officers and personnel swearing allegiance to the monarch. It has been claimed that this includes the power to prevent unconstitutional use of the armed forces, responsibility for the management of the forces is delegated to a number of committees, the Defence Council, Chiefs of Staff Committee, Defence Management Board and three single-service boards. The Defence Council, composed of representatives of the services

9.
Royal Ulster Constabulary
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The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, its title became the Royal Ulster Constabulary. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary, at its peak the force had around 8,500 officers with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. In the same period, the RUC killed 55 people,28 of whom were civilians, the RUC was replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001. The former police force was renamed and reformed, as is provided for by the version of the Police Act 2000. The RUC has been accused by republicans and Irish nationalists of one-sided policing and discrimination, conversely, it was praised as one of the most professional policing operations in the world by British security forces. The allegations regarding collusion prompted several inquiries, the most recent of which was published by Police Ombudsman Nuala OLoan, Ombudsman Dame Nuala OLoan stated in her conclusions that there was no reason to believe the findings of the investigation were isolated incidents. Under section 60 of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, Northern Ireland was placed under the jurisdiction of the Royal Irish Constabulary. On 31 January 1921, Richard Dawson Bates, the first Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland and it was asked to advise on any alterations to the existing police necessary for the formation of a new force. An interim report was published on 28 March 1922, the first official report of the new Parliament of Northern Ireland, on 29 April 1922, King George V granted to the force the name Royal Ulster Constabulary. In May, the Parliament of Northern Ireland passed the Constabulary Act 1922, the headquarters of the force was established at Atlantic Buildings, Waring Street, in Belfast. The uniform remained essentially the same as that of the RIC - a dark green, as opposed to the dark blue worn by the other British police forces and the Garda Síochána. A new badge of the Red Hand of Ulster on a St Georges Cross surrounded by a chain was designed but proved unpopular and was never uniformly adopted, eventually the harp and crown insignia of the Order of St Patrick, as worn by the RIC, was adopted. To this end, its members were armed as the RIC had been, the RUC was limited by statute to a 3, 000-strong force. Initially, a third of positions within the force were reserved for Roman Catholics, the first two thousand places were filled quickly and those reserved for Catholics were filled mainly by ex-RIC men fleeing north. Due to reluctance by the establishment to employ too many Catholics. In addition, many Roman Catholics who joined the force, particularly during the troubles were targeted for murder or ostracised by their own community, as a result, representation of Catholics in the RUC never exceeded 20% and, by the 1960s, it had fallen to 12%. The polarised political climate in Northern Ireland resulted in violence from both sides of the political and religious divide, referring to the situation in Belfast after July 1921 he stated, For twelve months after that, the city was in a state of turmoil

10.
Defence Forces (Ireland)
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The military of Ireland, known as the Defence Forces, encompass the Army, Air Corps, Naval Service and Reserve Defence Forces. The Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces is the President of Ireland, all Defence Forces officers hold their commission from the President, but in practice the Minister for Defence acts on the Presidents behalf and reports to the Government of Ireland. The Minister for Defence is advised by the Council of Defence on the business of the Department of Defence, the Irish state has a long-standing policy of non-belligerence in armed conflicts, including neutrality in World War II. Irelands military capabilities are relatively modest, however, the state has a long history of involvement in United Nations peacekeeping operations. Functions of the Defence Forces include, Preparation for the defence of the state against armed attack, assisting the police force, the Garda Síochána, including the protection of the internal security of the state. Peacekeeping, crisis management and humanitarian operations in support of the United Nations. Policing the fisheries, in accordance with the obligations under European Union agreements. The Defence Forces trace their origins to the Irish Volunteers, founded in 1913, the Irish Volunteers were central to the Easter Rising staged in April 1916. After the rising, the Volunteers gave allegiance to the First Dáil, at this time the Volunteers became known as the Irish Republican Army. From 1919 onwards, the IRA waged a campaign against British rule in Ireland that is now known as the War of Independence. A truce brought hostilities to an end on 11 July 1921, the Provisional Government was then constituted on 14 January 1922. Many IRA men who fought in the War of Independence were dissatisfied with the treaty, in February 1922, the Provisional Government began to recruit volunteers into a new National Army. With declining relations between the units of the anti-treaty IRA and the newly recruited pro-treaty National Army, the Irish Civil War broke out on 28 June 1922. It ended on 24 May 1923 with the IRA Chief of Staff, Frank Aiken, ordering IRA volunteers to dump arms, the Forces were established on 1 October 1924. The state was neutral during World War II, but declared an official state of emergency on 2 September 1939. As the Emergency progressed, more and newer equipment was purchased for the rapidly expanding force from Britain, for the duration of the Emergency, Ireland, while formally neutral, tacitly supported the Allies in several ways. Allied aircraft were tolerated to access the Atlantic Ocean via the Donegal Corridor, g2, the Armys intelligence section, played a vital role in the detection and arrest of German spies, such as Hermann Görtz. In September 1946, the Naval Service was established as Irelands maritime force, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in 1955

11.
Irish republicanism
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Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic. This followed hundreds of years of British conquest and Irish resistance through rebellion and it launched the 1798 Rebellion with the help of French troops. The rebellion had some success, especially in County Wexford, before it was suppressed, a second rising in 1803, led by Robert Emmet, was quickly put down, and Emmet was hanged. The Young Ireland movement, formed in the 1830s, was initially a part of the Repeal Association of Daniel OConnell, primarily a political and cultural organisation, some members of Young Ireland staged an abortive rising, the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Its leaders were transported to Van Diemens Land, some of these escaped to the United States, where they linked up with other Irish exiles to form the Fenian Brotherhood. They staged another rising, the Fenian Rising, in 1867, in the early 20th century IRB members, in particular Tom Clarke and Seán MacDermott, began planning another rising. The execution of the Risings leaders, including Clarke, MacDermott, Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, the elected members did not take their seats but instead set up the First Dáil. Between 1919 and 1921 the Irish Republican Army, who were loyal to the Dáil, fought the British Army and Royal Irish Constabulary in the Irish War of Independence. Talks between the British and Irish in late 1921 led to a treaty by which the British conceded, not a 32-county Irish Republic and this led to the Irish Civil War, in which the republicans were defeated by their former comrades. That same year, the movement took the decision to focus on Northern Ireland thereafter. The Border Campaign, which lasted from 1956 to 1962, involved bombings, the failure of this campaign led the republican leadership to concentrate on political action, and to move to the left. Following the outbreak of The Troubles in 1968-9, the movement split between Officials and Provisionals at the beginning of 1970. The Provisional IRA, except during brief ceasefires in 1972 and 1975, kept up a campaign of violence for nearly thirty years, directed against security forces and civilian targets. This began to change with a speech by Danny Morrison in 1981, advocating what became known as the Armalite. Under the leadership of Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin began to focus on the search for a political settlement. When the party voted in 1986 to take seats in legislative bodies within Ireland, there was a walk-out of die-hard republicans, who set up Republican Sinn Féin and the Continuity IRA. Following the Hume–Adams dialogue, Sinn Féin took part in the Northern Ireland peace process led to the IRA ceasefires of 1994 and 1997. However, another split occurred, with anti-Agreement republicans setting up the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, today, Irish republicanism is divided between those who support the institutions set up under the Good Friday Agreement and the later St Andrews Agreement, and those who oppose them

12.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
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It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called simply the Irish Republican Army. It was also referred to as such by others. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement, the IRA initially focused on defence, but it began an offensive campaign in 1971. The IRAs primary goal was to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland and it used guerrilla tactics against the British Army and RUC in both rural and urban areas. It also carried out a campaign in Northern Ireland and England against what it saw as political. The IRA called a ceasefire in July 1997, after Sinn Féin was re-admitted into the Northern Ireland peace talks. It supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and in 2005 it disarmed under international supervision, the campaign was supported by arms and funding from Libya and from some Irish American groups. As a result, the IRA launched a new strategy known as the Long War and this saw them conduct a war of attrition against the British and increased emphasis on political activity, via the political party Sinn Féin. The success of the 1981 Irish hunger strike in mobilising support and winning elections led to the Armalite and ballot box strategy, with more time, the British demand was quickly dropped after the May 1997 general election in the UK. The IRA ceasefire was reinstated in July 1997 and Sinn Féin was admitted into all-party talks. The IRAs armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, the dead included around 1,100 members of the British security forces, and about 640 civilians. The IRA itself lost 275–300 members and an estimated 10,000 imprisoned at times over the 30-year period. The organisation remains classified as a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, two small groups split from the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA in 1986, and the Real IRA in 1997. Both reject the Good Friday Agreement and continue to engage in paramilitary activity and this new IRA group is estimated by Police Service of Northern Ireland intelligence sources to have between 250 and 300 active militants and many more supporting associates. The Provisional IRA was organised hierarchically, at the top of the organisation was the IRA Army Council, headed by the IRA Chief of Staff. All levels of the organisation were entitled to send delegates to IRA General Army Conventions, the GAC was the IRAs supreme decision-making authority. Since 1969, there have only three, in 1970,1986, and 2005, owing to the difficulty in organising such a large gathering of an illegal organisation in secret

13.
Official Irish Republican Army
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It emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA, each continued to call itself simply the IRA and rejected the others legitimacy. Unlike the Provisionals, the Officials were Marxist and worked to form a front with other Irish communist groups. The Officials were called the NLF by the Provisionals and were nicknamed the Red IRA by others. It waged a campaign against the British Army, mainly involving shooting and bombing attacks on troops in urban working-class neighbourhoods. Most notably, it was involved in the 1970 Falls Curfew, in May 1972, it declared a ceasefire and vowed to limit its actions to defence and retaliation. By this time, the Provisional IRA had become the larger, following the ceasefire, the OIRA began to be referred to as Group B within the Official movement. It became involved in feuds with the Provisional IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army and it has also been involved in organized crime and vigilantism. The Official IRA was linked to the political party Official Sinn Féin, later renamed Sinn Féin the Workers Party, the particular object of their discontent was Sinn Féins ending of its policy of abstentionism in the Republic of Ireland. They were heavily influenced by popular front ideology and drew close to communist thinking, a key intermediary body was the Communist Party of Great Britains organisation for Irish exiles, the Connolly Association. Its effect was to depress wages, since worker could be set against worker and they concluded that the first step on the road to a 32-county socialist republic in Ireland was the democratisation of Northern Ireland and radicalisation of the southern working class. The sense that the IRA seemed to be drifting away from its conventional republican, the radicals viewed Ulster Protestants with unionist views as fellow Irishmen deluded by bourgeois loyalties, who needed to be engaged in dialectical debate. As a result, they were reluctant to use force to defend Catholic areas of Belfast when they came under attack from Ulster loyalists—a role the IRA had performed since the 1920s. Since the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association marches began in 1968, the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been shown on television in undisciplined baton charges, and had already killed three non-combatant civilians, one a child. The Orange Orders marching season during the summer of 1969 had been characterised by violence on both sides, which culminated in the three-day Battle of the Bogside in Derry. The critical moment came in August 1969 when there was an outbreak of intercommunal violence in Belfast and Derry, with eight deaths, six of them Catholics. On 14–15 August loyalists burned out several Catholic streets in Belfast in the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969, IRA units offered resistance, however very few weapons were available for the defence of Catholic areas. Discontent was not confined to the northern IRA units, in the south also, such figures as Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Sean MacStiofain opposed both the leaderships proposed recognition of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

14.
Irish National Liberation Army
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The Irish National Liberation Army is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed in December 1974, during the Troubles. It seeks to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland and it is the paramilitary wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. The INLA was founded by members of the Official IRA who opposed that groups ceasefire. It was initially known as the Peoples Liberation Army or Peoples Republican Army, the INLA waged a paramilitary campaign against the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland. It was also active to an extent in the Republic of Ireland. High-profile attacks carried out by the INLA include the Droppin Well bombing, the 1994 Shankill Road killings, However, it was smaller and less active than the main republican paramilitary group, the Provisional IRA. It was also weakened by feuds and internal tensions, after a 24-year armed campaign, the INLA declared a ceasefire on 22 August 1998. In August 1999, it stated that There is no political or moral argument to justify a resumption of the campaign, in October 2009, the INLA formally vowed to pursue its aims through peaceful political means and began decommissioning its weapons. The party supports a No First Strike policy, that is allowing people to see the failure of the peace process for themselves without military actions. The INLA is a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000, the INLA was founded on 8 December 1974 in the Spa Hotel in Lucan, Dublin by former members of the Official IRA. The groups political wing, the IRSP was founded on the same day, the IRSPs foundation was made public but the INLAs was kept a secret until the group could operate effectively. The group was formed due to dissatisfaction with the Official IRA ceasefire in 1972, shortly after it was founded, the INLA came under attack from their former comrades in the OIRA, who wanted to destroy the new grouping before it could get off the ground. On 20 February 1975, Hugh Ferguson, an INLA member, one of the first military operations of the INLA was the shooting of OIRA leader Sean Garland in Dublin on 1 March. Although shot six times, he survived, after several more shootings a truce was arranged, but fighting started again. The most prominent victim of the feud was Billy McMillen. His murder was unauthorised and was condemned by Costello and this was followed by several more assassinations on both sides, the most prominent victim being Seamus Costello, who was shot dead on the North Strand Road in Dublin on 6 October 1977. Costellos death was a blow to the INLA, as he was their most able political. The Officials had denied involvement at the time of the killing and had blamed it on the Provisionals

15.
Irish People's Liberation Organisation
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It developed a reputation for intra-republican violence and criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1992. The IPLO remains a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000, the IPLO emerged from a split within the INLA. After the 1981 Irish hunger strike, in three of its members died, the INLA began to break apart. The INLA virtually dissolved as a coherent force in the mid-1980s, factions associated with Belfast and Dublin fell into dispute with each other. When INLA man Harry Kirkpatrick turned supergrass, he implicated many of his comrades in various activities. Members both inside and out of prison broke away from the INLA and set up the IPLO, some key players at the outset were Tom McAllister, Gerard Steenson, Jimmy Brown and Martin Rook OPrey. Jimmy Brown formed a political group, known as the Republican Socialist Collective. The destructive psychological impact of the feud on the communities that the combatants came from was huge as it was viewed as a conflict between fellow republicans. The INLA shot and killed IPLO leader Gerard Steenson in March 1987, and following revenge killings by the IPLO, the IPLO was accused of becoming involved in the illegal drug trade, especially in ecstasy. Some of its Belfast members were accused of the prolonged gang rape of a North Down woman in Divis Flats in 1990. Many of its recruits had fallen out of favour with the IRA, Sammy Ward, a low-level IPLO member, broke away from the main body of the organisation with a few supporters when the IPLO were severely depleted and weak in Belfast. His faction attacked the rest of the IPLO, culminating in the killing of Jimmy Brown, a full-scale feud followed between two factions terming themselves Army Council and Belfast Brigade, which led to the 3000th killing of the Troubles, Hugh McKibben, a 21-year-old Army Council man. Brown had been the victim when he was shot dead in West Belfast on 18 August 1992. This feud was described by the IPLOs critics as a squabble over money. The Provisional IRA – by far the largest armed group in Ireland – decided this was an opportunity to attack. They mounted an operation to wipe out the IPLO, there were also raids on pubs and clubs where IPLO members were kneecapped. On 2 November 1992 the second-in-command of the IPLO Belfast Brigade formally surrendered to the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade adjutant, in Dublin the IRA reprieved the IPLO Chief of Staff in return for surrendering a small cache of arms held in Ballybough. According to the Sutton database of deaths at the University of Ulsters CAIN project,21 December 1986 - Thomas McCartan, a member of the INLA, was shot dead by the Irish Peoples Liberation Organisation in Andersonstown, Belfast

16.
Continuity Irish Republican Army
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The Continuity Irish Republican Army, usually known as the Continuity IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a united Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Provisional IRA in 1986 and it is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and is designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. It has links with the political party Republican Sinn Féin and it sees itself as the national army of an Irish Republic covering the whole of Ireland. The security forces initially referred to it as the Irish National Republican Army, since 1994, the CIRA has waged a campaign in Northern Ireland against the British Army and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary. This is part of a campaign against the British security forces by dissident republican paramilitaries. It has targeted the security forces in gun attacks and bombings, as well as grenades, mortars. The CIRA has also carried out bombings with the goal of causing economic harm and/or disruption, to date, it has been responsible for the death of one PSNI officer. The CIRA is not as big and has not been as active as the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA has its origins in a split in the Provisional IRA. In September 1986, the Provisional IRA held a meeting of its General Army Convention and it was the first GAC in 16 years. The only IRA body that supported this viewpoint was the outgoing IRA Executive and those members of the outgoing Executive who opposed the change comprised a quorum. They met, dismissed those in favour of the change, and they contacted Tom Maguire, who was a commander in the old IRA and had supported the Provisionals against the Official IRA, and asked him for support. Maguire had also contacted by supporters of Gerry Adams, then and current president of Sinn Féin. Maguire rejected Adams supporters, supported the IRA Executive members opposed to the change, in 1987, Maguire described the Continuity Executive as the lawful Executive of the Irish Republican Army. He was the first police officer to be killed since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and he was killed two days after the Real IRAs 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting in Antrim. In a press interview with Republican Sinn Féin some days later, regarded by some to be the wing of the Continuity IRA. In 2013, the Continuity IRAs South Down Brigade threatened a Traveller family in Newry, there were negotiations with community representatives and the CIRA announced the threat was lifted. It was believed the threat was issued after a Traveller feud which resulted in a bomb attack in Bessbrook. The Continuity IRA is believed to be strongest in the County Fermanagh - North County Armagh area and it also claimed the group orchestrated a riot during a security alert in Lurgan

17.
Real Irish Republican Army
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The Real Irish Republican Army or Real IRA, also referred to as the New IRA, is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which aims to bring about a united Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members and it is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and designated as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and the United States. Since its formation, RIRA has waged a campaign in Northern Ireland against the Police Service of Northern Ireland —formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary —and the British Army, the RIRA is the largest and most active of the dissident republican paramilitary groups operating against the British security forces. It has targeted the security forces in gun attacks and bombings, the organisation has also been responsible for bombings in Northern Ireland and England with the goal of causing economic harm and/or disruption. The most notable of these was the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people, after that bombing the RIRA went on ceasefire, but began operations again in 2000. In March 2009 it claimed responsibility for an attack on Massereene Barracks which killed two British soldiers, the first to be killed in Northern Ireland since 1997, the Real IRA has also been involved in vigilantism, mainly against alleged drug dealers and organised crime gangs. In Dublin in particular it has accused of extortion and engaging in feuds with these gangs. In July 2012 it was reported that Republican Action Against Drugs, as before, the group continues to refer to itself as the Irish Republican Army, but the new group has been referred as the New IRA in the press. In July 1997 the Provisional IRA called a ceasefire, on 10 October 1997 a Provisional IRA General Army Convention was held in Falcarragh, County Donegal. He was backed by his partner and fellow Executive member Bernadette Sands McKevitt, the two dissidents were outmanoeuvred by the leadership and were left isolated. The convention backed the line, and on 26 October McKevitt. In November 1997 McKevitt and other dissidents held a meeting in a farmhouse in Oldcastle, County Meath, the name Real IRA entered common usage when members set up a roadblock in Jonesborough, County Armagh and told motorists Were from the IRA. The RIRAs objective is a united Ireland by forcing the end of British sovereignty over Northern Ireland through the use of physical force, the organisation rejects the Mitchell Principles and the Good Friday Agreement, comparing the latter to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty which resulted in the partition of Ireland. The organisation aims to uphold an uncompromising form of Irish republicanism and opposes any political settlement that falls short of Irish unity and he did not die for nationalists to be equal British citizens within the Northern Ireland state. The RIRA adopted a tactic of bombing town centres to damage the infrastructure of Northern Ireland. The organisations first action was a bombing in Banbridge, County Down on 7 January 1998. The intention was to explode a 300 lb car bomb, the RIRA continued its campaign in late February with bombings in Moira, County Down and Portadown, County Armagh. On 9 May the organisation announced its existence, in a telephone call to Belfast media claiming responsibility for a mortar attack on a police station in Belleek

18.
Provisional IRA arms importation
–
Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation into the Republic of Ireland for use in Northern Ireland began in the early 1970s. With these weapons it conducted a campaign against the British state in Northern Ireland. In the early stages of the Troubles, during the period 1969–1972 and they had access to weapons remaining from the IRAs failed Border Campaign between 1956 and 1962, but these weapons were outdated and unsuitable for a modern campaign. After 1969, and the split with the Official IRA, the Provisional IRA gained control of a majority of the stockpiled weaponry still held from previous IRA campaigns. The Garands were used in IRA operations as late as the summer of 1976, to continue and escalate their armed campaign, the IRA needed to be better equipped, which meant securing modern small arms. In previous campaigns weapons had been secured before hostilities commenced via raids on British Army, in the 1969–1971 period this was no longer feasible. By 1972, the IRA had large quantities of small arms, particularly Armalite rifles. The AR-18 rifle in particular was found to be well suited to the Provisionals purposes as its small size. Moreover, it was capable of fire and fired a high velocity round which provided great stopping power. The IRAs main gun runner in the USA was George Harrison, Harrison bought guns for the IRA from a Corsican arms dealer named George de Meo, who had connections in organised crime. Joe Cahill acted as the contact between NORAID and Harrison, in 1971, the Royal Ulster Constabulary had already seized 700 modern weapons from the IRA, including 2 tonnes of high explosive and 157,000 rounds of ammunition, most of which were US made. Harrison spent an estimated US$1 million in the 1970s purchasing over 2,500 guns for the IRA, again, the purchase of these weapons was funded by Irish American republicans. A batch of M60 machine guns was imported in 1977, Harrison was arrested by the FBI in 1981, but acquitted at his trial. Megahey was arrested by the FBI in 1982 after a sting operation, where he was trying to purchase surface-to-air missiles for the IRA. In 1984, the FBI warned Ireland that a major IRA arms shipment was underway from the US, subsequently, Irish authorities discovered that arms ship was a vessel named Marita Ann, allegedly after a tip off Sean OCallaghan, an IRA informant for the Garda Síochána. Three Irish Naval Service ships confronted the vessel off the coast of County Kerry, the weapons had been donated by the South Boston Winter Hill Irish Mob. The other source of IRA arms in the 1970s was Libya, whose leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the first Libyan arms donation to the IRA occurred in 1972–1973, following visits by Joe Cahill to Libya. In early 1973, the Government of the Republic of Ireland received intelligence that the vessel Claudia was carrying a shipment of weapons, the weapons seized included 250 Soviet-made small arms,240 rifles, anti-tank mines and other explosives

19.
Ulster loyalism
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Ulster loyalism is a political ideology found primarily among working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland, whose status as a part of the United Kingdom has remained controversial. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers from Great Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, like unionists, loyalists are attached to the British monarchy, support the continued existence of Northern Ireland, and oppose a united Ireland. Ulster loyalism has been described as a kind of ethnic nationalism and it is strongly associated with paramilitarism. Ulster loyalism emerged in the late 19th century, as a response to the Irish Home Rule movement, although most of Ireland was Catholic, in the province of Ulster, Protestants were the majority. Ulster was also more industrialized than other parts of Ireland and was dependent on trade with Britain. Loyalism began as a movement among Ulster Protestants who did not want to become part of an autonomous Ireland. While some Irish Catholics were also unionist, loyalism emphasized a Protestant, loyalists often use Ulster as an alternative name for Northern Ireland. Since partition, most loyalists have supported upholding Northern Irelands status as a part of the United Kingdom, i. e. unionism. Historically, the terms unionist and loyalist were often used interchangeably, however, since the resurgence of loyalist paramilitarism in the 1960s, a distinction between the two is made more often. The term loyalist is now used to describe working class unionists who are willing to use, or tacitly support. Loyalists are also described as being loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to the British government, garret FitzGerald argued that loyalists are loyal primarily to Ulster rather than to the Union. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, in Northern Ireland there is a long tradition of militaristic loyalist Protestant marching bands. There are hundreds of bands who hold numerous parades each year. The yearly Eleventh Night bonfires and The Twelfth parades are strongly associated with loyalism, the term loyalist was first used in Irish politics in the 1790s to refer to Protestants who opposed Catholic Emancipation and Irish independence from Great Britain. Upon the partition of Ireland in 1921, six of the nine counties in the province of Ulster didnt join the new independent Irish Free State and remained a part of the United Kingdom. Academically cited records from 1926 indicate that at that stage 33. 5% of the Northern Ireland population was Roman Catholic, tensions between Northern Irelands Catholic population and its Protestant population led to a long-running bloody conflict known as the Troubles from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This includes the British National Front, the British Peoples Party, bigger and more moderate right-wing unionist parties like the Ulster Unionists or Democratic Unionists usually seek to distance themselves from loyalist paramilitary activity. Loyalist paramilitary and vigilante groups have been active since the early 20th century, in 1912, the Ulster Volunteers were formed to stop the British Government granting self-rule to Ireland, or to exclude Ulster from it

20.
Ulster Volunteer Force
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The Ulster Volunteer Force is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It emerged in 1966 and is named after the original UVF of the early 20th century and its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British soldier. The group undertook a campaign of almost thirty years during the Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence, the group is classified as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and United States. The UVFs declared goals were to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army – and it was responsible for more than 500 deaths. The vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were killed at random. During the conflict, its deadliest attack in Northern Ireland was the 1971 McGurks Bar bombing, the group also carried out attacks in the Republic of Ireland from 1969 onward. The biggest of these was the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the no-warning car bombings had been carried out by units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades. Two UVF men were blown up in this poorly planned attack. The UVFs last major attack was the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, in which its members shot dead six Catholic civilians in a rural pub, until recent years, it was noted for secrecy and a policy of limited, selective membership. The other main loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the Ulster Defence Association, since the ceasefire, the UVF has been involved in rioting, organised crime, vigilantism and feuds with other loyalist groups. Some members have also found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks. The UVFs stated goal was to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army –, the vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. Whenever it claimed responsibility for its attacks, the UVF usually claimed that those targeted were IRA members or were giving help to the IRA. Other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as retaliation for IRA actions, many retaliatory attacks on Catholics were claimed using the covername Protestant Action Force, which first appeared in autumn 1974. They always signed their statements with the fictitious name Captain William Johnston, like the Ulster Defence Association, the UVFs modus operandi involved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. It used sub machine-guns, assault rifles, pistols, grenades, incendiary bombs, booby trap bombs, referring to its activity in the early and mid-1970s, journalist Ed Moloney described no-warning pub bombings as the UVFs forte. Members were trained in bomb-making and it developed home-made explosives, however, from 1977 bombs largely disappeared from the UVFs arsenal owing to a lack of explosives and bomb-makers, plus a conscious decision to abandon their use in favour of more contained methods

21.
Ulster Defence Association
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The Ulster Defence Association is the largest Ulster loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during the Troubles, for most of this time it was a legal organisation. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to combat Irish republicanism, in the 1970s, uniformed UDA members openly patrolled these areas armed with batons and held large marches and rallies. Within the UDA was a group tasked with launching paramilitary attacks, the British government outlawed the UFF in November 1973, but the UDA itself was not proscribed as a terrorist group until August 1992. The UDA/UFF was responsible for more than 400 deaths, the vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, killed at random, in what the group called retaliation for IRA actions or attacks on Protestants. High-profile attacks carried out by the group include the Milltown massacre, the Sean Graham bookmakers shooting, the Castlerock killings, most of its attacks were in Northern Ireland, but from 1972 onward it also carried out bombings in the Republic of Ireland. The UDA/UFF declared a ceasefire in 1994 and ended its campaign in 2007, the other main loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the Ulster Volunteer Force. All three groups are Proscribed Organisations in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000, the Ulster Defence Association emerged from a series of meetings during the middle of 1971 of loyalist vigilante groups called defence associations. The largest of these were the Shankill and Woodvale Defence Associations, with groups based in East Belfast. The first meeting was chaired by Billy Hull, with Alan Moon as its vice-chair, Moon was quickly replaced by Jim Anderson and had left the organisation by the time of its formal launch in September. Its most prominent early spokesperson was Tommy Herron, however, Andy Tyrie would emerge as soon after. Its original motto was Cedenta Arma Togae and it was an organisation until it was banned by the British Government on 10 August 1992. At its peak of strength it held around forty thousand members, the UDA enforced this general strike through widespread intimidation across Northern Ireland. The strike was led by VUPP Assemblyman and UDA member, Glenn Barr, the UDA were often referred to as Wombles by their rivals, mainly the Ulster Volunteer Force. The name is derived from the fictional creatures The Wombles. Its headquarters is in Gawn Street, off the Newtownards Road in east Belfast, and its current motto is Quis Separabit, the UDA had several womens units, which acted independent of each other. Although they occasionally helped man roadblocks, the units were typically involved in local community work and responsible for the assembly. This was a source of pride for the UDA, the first womens unit was founded on the Shankill Road by Wendy Bucket Millar, whose sons Herbie and James Sham Millar would later become prominent UDA members

22.
Red Hand Commando
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The Red Hand Commando was a small secretive Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force. Its aim was to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army – and it is named after the Red Hand of Ulster. Writing in early 1973, Martin Dillon characterized the Red Hand thus, the composition of group was highly selective. Its membership was composed in the main of Protestant youths – the Tartans who roamed the streets at night looking for trouble and these youths longed for action, and McKeague let them have it. The RHC is a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000, much of the group’s past is a mystery. The RHC was formed in 1972 in the Shankill area of west Belfast by John McKeague, William Plum Smith, membership was high in the Shankill, east Belfast, Sandy Row, Newtownabbey areas as well as in parts of County Down. In 1972, the RHC agreed to become an part of the Ulster Volunteer Force. It kept its own structures but in operational matters agreed to share weapons and personnel and it was proscribed by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw on 12 November 1973. A number of senior Red Hand Commando members played a part in the formation of the Progressive Unionist Party. The RHC waged a campaign from 1972 until the loyalist ceasefires of 1994. According to the Sutton database of deaths at the University of Ulsters CAIN project, the RHC has allegedly killed 13 people, including 12 civilians, however it is known they killed and allowed other loyalist paramilitary groups to claim in their name, namely the Ulster Volunteer Force. 31 Oct 1972, The RHC shot dead a Catholic civilian at his workplace on Lisburn Road,11 Nov 1972, The RHC shot dead a Catholic civilian at his shop on Crumlin Road, Belfast. July 1974, In what was described as a no warning bomb spree, one man was killed and 100 people were wounded. 12 Apr 1975, The RHC claimed responsibility for a gun and bomb attack on Strand Bar, Anderson Street,19 Dec 1975, A car bomb exploded without warning at Kays Tavern in Dundalk, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. Two civilians were killed and twenty wounded, a short time later, there was a gun and bomb attack on Silverbridge Inn near Crossmaglen, County Armagh. Two Catholic civilians and an English civilian were killed in that attack, members of the Glenanne gang were believed to have been involved in these attacks. The RHC claimed responsibility for both,2 May 1976, The RHC shot dead a Catholic civilian near his home in Thistlecross, County Louth. 2 Jun 1976, The RHC shot dead a Protestant civilian at a house in Comber, a Catholic man was the intended target

23.
Ulster Resistance
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The group was launched at a three thousand-strong invitation-only meeting at the Ulster Hall. The rally was chaired by the Democratic Unionist Party Press Officer Sammy Wilson and addressed by party colleagues Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson, also on the platform was Alan Wright, the chairman of the Ulster Clubs. The launch rally was followed by a number of similar assemblies across Northern Ireland, at a rally in Enniskillen, Peter Robinson announced, Thousands have already joined the movement and the task of shaping them into an effective force is continuing. The Resistance has indicated that drilling and training has already started, the officers of the nine divisions have taken up their duties. At a rally in the Ulster Hall, Paisley spoke of a need for an extra-governmental Third Force to fight against the aims of Irish republicanism and he was then filmed dramatically placing a red beret on his head and standing to attention. DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson was also photographed wearing the militant loyalist paramilitary regalia of beret, a mass membership failed to materialise, but active groups were established in country areas such as County Armagh, attracting support from rural conservative Ulster Protestants. The group collaborated with the Ulster Volunteer Force, Red Hand Commando, in June 1987 the UVF stole more than £300,000 from the Northern Bank in Portadown. The weapons were transported to a farm between Armagh and Portadown, to await collection by the three groups. 61 assault rifles,30 Brownings,150 grenades and over 11,000 rounds of ammunition were seized, davy Payne, the UDAs North Belfast Brigadier was sentenced to 19 years in prison and the two others to 14 years each. Part of the UVFs share was among weapons recovered in February 1988, a RPG7 rocket launcher with 26 warheads,38 assault rifles,15 Brownings,100 grenades and 40,000 rounds of ammunition were found following searches in the Upper Crumlin Road area of North Belfast. In November 1988, part of the Ulster Resistance share of the weapons was uncovered in police searches at a number of locations in County Armagh around Markethill, Hamiltonsbawn and in Armagh town. Among the items recovered was a RPG7 rocket launcher and 5 warheads,3 assault rifles, also discovered in the arms caches were parts of a Javelin surface-to-air missile and a number of Ulster Resistance red berets. In September 1989, a 33-year-old man from Poyntzpass and a 35-year-old man from Tandragee were jailed to nine and six years respectively for storing and moving weapons and explosives on behalf of UR. In January 1990, a 32-year-old former member of the UDR from Richill was jailed for 12 years for possessing UR arms, in 2013, the group was reported to have acquired more modern weapons along with stocks that were already acquired. The DUP subsequently claimed that they severed their links with the group in 1987, the South African contacts who had helped set up the 1987 arms deal were also interested in trading guns for something other than money, missile technology. In October 1988, a model of the Javelin missile aiming system was stolen from the Short Brothers factory in Belfast, a few months later, parts of a Blowpipe missile went missing and another Blowpipe was stolen from a Territorial Army base in Newtownards in April 1989. The Paris Three were charged with trafficking and associating with criminals involved in terrorist activities. They were convicted in October 1991 after more than two years on remand and they received suspended sentences and fines ranging from £2,000 to £5,000

24.
Loyalist Volunteer Force
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The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his split from the Ulster Volunteer Force after breaking its ceasefire. They had belonged to the UVFs Mid-Ulster Brigade and Wright had been the brigades commander, in a two-year period from August 1996, the LVF waged a paramilitary campaign with the stated goal of combatting Irish republicanism. During this time it killed at least 14 people in gun, almost all of its victims were Catholic civilians who were killed at random. The LVF called off its campaign in August 1998 and decommissioned some of its weapons, since then, the LVF has been largely inactive, but its members are believed to have been involved in rioting and organized crime. In 2015, the security forces stated that the LVF exists only as a group in Mid-Ulster. In a document, the LVF outlined its goals as follows, The use of the Ulster conflict as a crucible for far-reaching, fundamental, to restore Ulsters right to self-determination. To end Irish nationalist aggression against Ulster in whatever form, to end all forms of Irish interference in Ulsters internal affairs. To thwart the creation and/or implementation of any All-Ireland/All-Island political super-structure regardless of the powers vested in such institutions, to defeat the campaign of de-Britishisation and Gaelicaisation of Ulsters daily life. There was also a Christian fundamentalist element within the LVF and its leader, Billy Wright, was a born again Christian and former preacher. Professor Peter Shirlow, of Queens University Belfast, noted that many LVF members saw Irish nationalism/republicanism and Catholicism as interlinked and they believed that Ulster Protestants were a persecuted people and Ulster was their God-given land which must be defended from these dark and satanic forces. The LVF published a magazine called Leading the Way, Billy Wright was the leader of the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force, having taken over the command from Robin the Jackal Jackson in the early 1990s upon the latters retirement. In October 1994, the UVF and other loyalist paramilitary groups called a ceasefire, internal differences between Wright and the UVFs Brigade Staff in Belfast came to a head in July 1996, during the Drumcree parade dispute. The Orange Order was being stopped from marching through the mostly Irish Catholic, there was a standoff at Drumcree Church between thousands of Orangemen and their supporters on one side, and the security forces on the other. Wright was angered that the parade was being blocked, and was often to be seen at Drumcree with Harold Gracey, in response to the standoff, Wrights brigade planned to take action. It smuggled homemade weaponry to Drumcree, apparently unhindered by the Orangemen, on 7 July, a day into the standoff, volunteers in Wrights brigade shot dead Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick near Aghagallon. Allegedly, the brigade planned to drive petrol tankers into the nationalist housing estates. For breaking the ceasefire, Wright and the Portadown unit of the Mid Ulster Brigade were stood down by the UVF leadership on 2 August 1996, Wright then took most of the Portadown unit with him and set up the LVF

25.
Ulster Defence Regiment
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The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. It was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven battalions plus another four added within two years and it consisted mostly of part-time volunteers until 1976, when a full-time cadre was added. Recruiting in Northern Ireland at a time of strife, some of its members were involved in sectarianism. It is doubtful if any unit of the British Army has ever come under the same sustained criticism as the UDR. Uniquely in the British Army, the regiment was on active service throughout its 22 years of service. It was also the first infantry regiment of the British Army to fully incorporate women into its structure, in 1992, the UDR was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers to form the Royal Irish Regiment. In 2006, the regiment was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. The UDR was raised in 1970, soon after the beginning of the Northern Ireland Troubles, before then, the main security forces were the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Ulster Special Constabulary, the most notorious unit of which was the B Specials. Large scale intercommunal rioting in 1969 stretched police resources in Northern Ireland, on 28 August 1969 security in Northern Ireland, including the USC, was put under the direct control of the General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland, General Ian Freeland. The USC, which had no training in riot control, was mobilised to assist the RUC, a catalogue of incidents ensued, such as Specials from Tynan shooting dead an unarmed civil rights demonstrator in Armagh on 14 August 1969. While the Northern Ireland cabinet remained supportive of the USC, it was put to them at a London meeting on 19 August that disbanding the USC was top of the British Governments agenda. The Hunt Report commissioned by the Government of Northern Ireland published on 3 October 1969, further, a locally recruited part-time force, under the control of the G. O. C. And that it together with the volunteer reserve, should replace the Ulster Special Constabulary. The new force was to be impartial in every sense and remove the responsibility of military operations from the police. The British Government accepted the findings of the Hunt Report and published a Bill, parliamentary debate in Westminster highlighted concerns that members of the USC were to be allowed to join the new force. A working party was set up at Headquarters Northern Ireland chaired by Major General A. J, dyball of the Royal Ulster Rifles, then the deputy director of operations in Northern Ireland. The team included an officer from the Ministry of Defence, a member of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Lieutenant Colonel S Miskimmon. After discussions they advocated a strength of 6,000 men, combat dress for duties, a dark green uniform, county shoulder titles

26.
Northern Ireland Prison Service
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The Northern Ireland Prison Service is an executive agency of the Department of Justice, the headquarters of which are in Dundonald House in the Stormont Estate in Belfast. It was established as an agency on 1 April 1995, agency status was re-confirmed following a quinquennial review in 2000. The Prison Service is responsible for providing services in Northern Ireland. Its main statutory duties are set out in the Prison Act 1953, the Prison Service is a major component of the wider criminal justice system and contributes to achieving the systems overall aims and objectives. The Prison Service is headed by the Director General, as of August 2009, the Northern Ireland Prison Service employed 1,893 staff. Immigration detainees are accommodated in the prisons Belfast facility, there is also a staff training facility, the Prison Service College, at Millisle, Co Down

27.
Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
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The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force and integrated element of the British Army. Most Volunteer infantry units had unique identities, but lost these in the reorganisation, only one infantry unit, the London Regiment, has maintained a separate identity. Reservists in the past also served as constables or bailiffs, even holding positions of civic duty as overseer of their parish, the more modern Yeomen of the 18th century were cavalry-based units, which were often used to suppress riots. Several units that are now part of the Army Reserve bear the title militia, after the Second World War, for example, the Army Reserve - or Territorial Army as it was known then - was not demobilised until 1947. All Army Reserve personnel have their jobs protected to a limited extent by law should they be compulsorily mobilised. There is, however, no protection against discrimination in employment for membership of the Army Reserve in the normal course of events. As part of the process, remaining units of militia were converted to the Special Reserve. The TF was formed on 1 April 1908 and contained fourteen infantry divisions and it had an overall strength of approximately 269,000. The individual units that made up each division or brigade were administered by County Associations, the other members of the association consisted of military members, representative members and co-opted members. Associations took over any property vested in the volunteers or yeomanry under their administration, each regiment or battalion had a Regular Army officer attached as full-time adjutant. In August 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, territorial units were given the option of serving in France and, by 25 August, in excess of seventy battalions had volunteered. This question over the availability of territorial divisions for service was one of Lord Kitcheners motivations for raising the New Army separately. The first fully Territorial division to join the fighting on the Western Front was the 46th Division in March 1915, with divisions later serving in Gallipoli and elsewhere. As the war progressed, and casualties mounted, the character of territorial units was diluted by the inclusion of conscript. Following the Armistice all units of the Territorial Force were gradually disbanded, New recruiting started in early 1920, and the Territorial Force was reconstituted on 7 February 1920. On 1 October 1920, the Territorial Force was renamed the Territorial Army, the 1st Line divisions were reconstituted in that year. However, the composition of the divisions was altered, with a reduction in the number of infantry battalions required, there was also a reduced need for cavalry, and of the 55 yeomanry regiments, only the 14 most senior retained their horses. The remaining yeomanry were converted to artillery or armoured car units or disbanded, the amalgamation of 40 pairs of infantry battalions was announced in October 1921

28.
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
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Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom, England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most law enforcement is carried out by police serving in regional police services within one of these jurisdictions. Police officers are granted powers to enable them to execute their duties. Their primary duties are the protection of life and property, preservation of the peace, in the British model of policing, officers exercise their powers to police with the implicit consent of the public. Policing by consent is the used to describe this. In England and Wales, the vast majority of attested constables enjoy full powers of arrest and search as granted by the Police, all police officers are constables in law, irrespective of rank. Although police officers have wide ranging powers, they are subject to the same laws as members of the public. However, there are additional legal restrictions on police officers such as the illegality of taking industrial action. There are 45 territorial police services as of 2013 that cover an area and have an independent police authority or local authority or joint police board. Some territorial police services host specialist bodies that operate in more than one area of the United Kingdom, National law enforcement bodies, including the National Crime Agency and British Transport Police. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 refers to these as special police forces, the National Crime Agency operates across the United Kingdom against organised crime and acts as the UK point of contact for foreign agencies. There are also non-police law enforcement agencies whose officers, while not police constables, miscellaneous police services, mostly having their foundations in older legislation or common law. Until the passing of Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, the British Transport Police was such a force, the list of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom details the various services. Territorial police constables have certain powers of arrest in one of the UKs three legal jurisdictions than they were attested in. Detention under these powers, which in Scotland normally lasts for twelve hours, a constable from one legal jurisdiction has, in the other jurisdictions, the same powers of arrest as a constable of that jurisdiction would have. When a constable arrests a person in England & Wales, the constable is subject to the requirements of section 28, section 30, when a constable arrests a person in Northern Ireland, the constable is subject to the requirements of Article 30, Article 32 and Article 34. Referred to as aid, constables loaned from one force to another have the powers. Constables from the Metropolitan Police who are on protection duties in Scotland or Northern Ireland have all the powers, a constable who is taking a person to or from a prison retains all the powers, authority, protection and privileges of his office regardless of his location

29.
Royal Air Force
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The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission. The mission statement is supported by the RAFs definition of air power, Air power is defined as the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events. Today the Royal Air Force maintains a fleet of various types of aircraft. The majority of the RAFs rotary-wing aircraft form part of the tri-service Joint Helicopter Command in support of ground forces, most of the RAFs aircraft and personnel are based in the UK, with many others serving on operations or at long-established overseas bases. It was founded on 1 April 1918, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, during the First World War, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps, at that time it was the largest air force in the world. The RAFs naval aviation branch, the Fleet Air Arm, was founded in 1924, the RAF developed the doctrine of strategic bombing which led to the construction of long-range bombers and became its main bombing strategy in the Second World War. The RAF underwent rapid expansion prior to and during the Second World War, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan of December 1939, the air forces of British Commonwealth countries trained and formed Article XV squadrons for service with RAF formations. Many individual personnel from countries, and exiles from occupied Europe. By the end of the war the Royal Canadian Air Force had contributed more than 30 squadrons to serve in RAF formations, additionally, the Royal Australian Air Force represented around nine percent of all RAF personnel who served in the European and Mediterranean theatres. In the Battle of Britain in 1940, the RAF defended the skies over Britain against the numerically superior German Luftwaffe, the largest RAF effort during the war was the strategic bombing campaign against Germany by Bomber Command. Following victory in the Second World War, the RAF underwent significant re-organisation, during the early stages of the Cold War, one of the first major operations undertaken by the Royal Air Force was in 1948 and the Berlin Airlift, codenamed Operation Plainfire. Before Britain developed its own nuclear weapons the RAF was provided with American nuclear weapons under Project E and these were initially armed with nuclear gravity bombs, later being equipped with the Blue Steel missile. Following the development of the Royal Navys Polaris submarines, the nuclear deterrent passed to the navys submarines on 30 June 1969. With the introduction of Polaris, the RAFs strategic nuclear role was reduced to a tactical one and this tactical role was continued by the V bombers into the 1980s and until 1998 by Tornado GR1s. For much of the Cold War the primary role of the RAF was the defence of Western Europe against potential attack by the Soviet Union, with many squadrons based in West Germany. With the decline of the British Empire, global operations were scaled back, despite this, the RAF fought in many battles in the Cold War period

30.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive

31.
Irish Prison Service
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The Irish Prison Service manages the day-to-day running of prisons in Ireland. Political responsibility for Irish prisons still rests with the Minister and governmental Department for Justice, in 2009, the Irish Prison Service had an annual budget of €379.319 million and it had a staff of 3,568 people. Thus, the responsibility for the management of the Irish prison system devolved to the minister, the situation remained thus until in 1999 the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, John ODonoghue established the Irish Prison Service as an agency to administrate over Irish prisons. Also in 1999 the Minister created the Prisons Authority Interim Board, whose members were appointed by the minister, in 2002, the first Inspector of Prisons in the post-independence era, retired High Court Judge Dermot Kileen was also appointed by the Minister. None of these bodies, including the Irish Prison Service, has any basis in Irish law. Prisons in Ireland Witness Security Programme

32.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time

33.
Battle of the Bogside
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The Battle of the Bogside was a very large communal riot that took place during 12–14 August 1969 in Derry, Northern Ireland. The fighting was between residents of the Bogside area, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary along with local unionists, the rioting erupted at the end of an Apprentice Boys parade which was passing along the city walls, past the Catholic Bogside. Fierce rioting broke out between local unionists and the police on one side and Catholics on the other, rioting between police and Bogside residents continued for three days. The police were unable to enter the area and eventually the British Army was deployed to restore order, the riot, which sparked widespread violence elsewhere in Northern Ireland, is commonly seen as one of the first major confrontations in the conflict known as the Troubles. Tensions had been building in Derry for over a year before the Battle of the Bogside, in part, this was due to long-standing grievances held by much of the citys population. The city had a majority Catholic and nationalist population, in 1961, for example, the population was 53,744, of which 36,049 was Catholic and 17,695 Protestant. However, because of gerrymandering after the partition of Ireland, it had ruled by the Ulster Unionist Party since 1925. Unionists maintained political control of Derry by two means, firstly, electoral wards were designed so as to give unionists a majority of elected representatives in the city. The Londonderry County Borough, which covered the city, had won by nationalists in 1921. It was recovered by unionists, however, following re-drawing of electoral boundaries by the unionist government in the Northern Ireland Parliament, secondly, only owners or tenants of a dwelling and their spouses were allowed to vote in local elections. Nationalists argued that these practices were retained by unionists after their abolition in Great Britain in 1945 in order to reduce the anti-unionist vote, figures show that, in Derry city, nationalists comprised 61. 6% of parliamentary electors, but only 54. 7% of local government electors. There was also widespread discrimination in employment, as a result, although Catholics made up 60% of Derrys population in 1961, due to the division of electoral wards, unionists had a majority of 12 seats to 8 on the city council. When there arose the possibility of nationalists gaining one of the wards, control of the city council gave unionists control over the allocation of public housing, which they allocated in such a way as to keep the Catholic population in a limited number of wards. This policy had the effect of creating a housing shortage for Catholics. In March 1968, a number of activists in the city founded the Derry Housing Action Committee. The groups founders were mostly members of the Northern Ireland Labour Party, such as Eamonn McCann. By the summer of 1968, this group had linked up with the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and were agitating for a programme of reform within Northern Ireland. On 5 October 1968, these activists organised a march through the centre of Derry, when the marchers, including Members of Parliament Eddie McAteer and Ivan Cooper, defied this ban they were batoned by the Royal Ulster Constabulary

34.
1969 Northern Ireland riots
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During 12–17 August 1969, Northern Ireland was rocked by intense political and sectarian rioting. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising from the civil rights campaign, Civil rights marches were repeatedly attacked by both Ulster Protestant loyalists and by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, a unionist and largely Protestant police force. The disorder led to the Battle of the Bogside in Derry, in support of the Bogsiders, nationalists and Catholics launched protests elsewhere in Northern Ireland. Some of these led to attacks by loyalists working alongside the police, the most bloody rioting was in Belfast, where seven people were killed and hundreds more wounded. Scores of houses, most of them owned by Catholics, as well as businesses and factories were burned-out, in addition, thousands of mostly Catholic families were driven from their homes. In certain areas, the RUC helped the loyalists and failed to protect Catholic areas, events in Belfast have been viewed by some as a pogrom against the Catholic and nationalist minority. The British Army was deployed to order and state control. The events of August 1969 are widely seen as the beginning of the conflict known as the Troubles. NICRA was opposed by Ian Paisleys Ulster Constitution Defence Committee and other loyalist groups, during the summer of 1969, before the riots broke out, the International Commission of Jurists published a highly critical report on the British governments policy in Northern Ireland. The Times wrote that this report criticised the Northern Ireland Government for police brutality, religious discrimination, the ICJ secretary general said that laws and conditions in Northern Ireland had been cited by the South African government to justify their own policies of discrimination. The Times also reported that the Ulster Special Constabulary, Northern Irelands reserve police force, was regarded as the militant arm of the Protestant Orange Order. The Belfast Telegraph reported that the ICJ had added Northern Ireland to the list of states/jurisdictions where the protection of rights is inadequately assured. The first major confrontation between civil rights activists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary occurred in Derry on 5 October 1968, when a NICRA march was baton-charged by the RUC. Disturbed by the prospect of violence, the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Terence ONeill, promised reforms in return for a truce. In spite of promises, in January 1969 Peoples Democracy. Ulster loyalists, including off-duty policemen, attacked the marchers a number of times, the RUC were present but did not protect the marchers. This action, and the RUCs subsequent entry into the Bogside, in March and April 1969, there were six bomb attacks on electricity and water infrastructure targets, causing blackouts and water shortages. There was some movement on reform in Northern Ireland in the first half of 1969, on 23 April UUP Stormont MPs voted by 28 to 22 to introduce universal adult suffrage in local government elections in Northern Ireland at their parliamentary party meeting

35.
Falls Curfew
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The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls, was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish nationalist district, as the search ended, local youths attacked the British soldiers with stones and petrol bombs and the soldiers responded with CS gas. This quickly developed into gun battles between British soldiers and the Irish Republican Army, after four hours of continuous clashes, the British commander sealed off the area, which comprised 3,000 homes, and imposed a curfew which would last for 36 hours. Thousands of British troops moved into the zone and carried out house-to-house searches for weapons, while coming under intermittent attack from the IRA. The searches caused much destruction, and an amount of CS gas was fired into the area. Many residents complained of suffering abuse at the hands of the soldiers, on 5 July, the curfew was brought to an end when thousands of women and children from Andersonstown marched into the curfew zone with food and groceries for the locals. During the operation, four civilians were killed by the British Army, large quantities of weapons and ammunition were captured. The British Army admitted afterwards that some of its soldiers had been involved in looting, the Falls Curfew was a turning point in the Troubles. It is seen as having turned many Catholics/Irish nationalists against the British Army, the Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 marked the beginning of the Troubles. In Belfast, Catholic Irish nationalists clashed with Protestant Ulster loyalists, hundreds of Catholic homes and businesses were burnt out and more than 1,000 families, mostly Catholics, were forced to flee. The rioting ended with the Operation Banner, the deployment of British troops, in December 1969, the IRA split into the Official IRA and Provisional IRA, with the Provisionals promising to defend Catholic areas. A week before the Falls Curfew, on Saturday 27 June 1970, at the Short Strand, a Catholic enclave in a Protestant part of the city, the Provisional IRA fought a five-hour gun battle with loyalists. Three people were killed and the loyalists withdrew, the Provisional IRA presented itself as having successfully defended a vulnerable Catholic enclave from armed loyalist mobs. Meanwhile, the Official IRA arranged for a number of weapons to be brought into the mainly nationalist. The area was a stronghold of the Official IRA, at about 4, 30pm on Friday 3 July, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British soldiers from the Royal Scots regiment entered the Lower Falls to carry out a weapons search. An informer had told them they would find an arms dump belonging to the Official IRA in a house on Balkan Street, a column of five or six armoured vehicles arrived at the house and sealed off the street. The search lasted about 45 minutes and uncovered 15 pistols, a rifle, a sub-machine gun, as the search ended and the troops began to leave, a crowd of youths on Raglan Street tried to block their path and pelted them with stones. The troops replied by launching CS gas at the crowd, the youths continued to throw stones and the soldiers responded with more CS gas

36.
1971 Scottish soldiers' killings
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The three Scottish soldiers killings was an incident that took place in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It happened on 10 March 1971, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army shot dead three unarmed British Army soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers, two of the three were teenage brothers, all three were from Scotland. They were killed off-duty and in civilian clothes, having been lured from a bar in Belfast, driven to a remote location. Three British soldiers had been killed prior to event, all had been on duty. The deaths led to public mourning and protests against the Provisional IRA, pressure to act precipitated a political crisis for the government of Northern Ireland, which led to the resignation of Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark. The British Army raised the age needed to serve in Northern Ireland to 18 in response to this incident. In 2010 a memorial was dedicated to the three soldiers near to where they were killed in north Belfast, British troops had been deployed to Northern Ireland in 1969 for Operation Banner in response to a deteriorating security situation following the 1969 Northern Ireland riots. The British Army had become involved in the disturbances culminating in the Falls Curfew of July 1970, the Provisional Irish Republican Army was created in December 1969 after a split from the Official Irish Republican Army. After the split, the Provisional IRA planned for an offensive action against the British occupation. Provisional IRA Chief of Staff Seán Mac Stíofáin decided they would escalate, escalate and escalate until the British agreed to go, the IRA Army Council sanctioned offensive operations against the British Army at the beginning of 1971. In this year, Robert Curtis was the first British soldier shot and killed by the Provisional IRA, on 6 February 1971, the shootings occurred on 10 March 1971 after the three soldiers had been granted an afternoon pass which allowed them to leave their base. McCaugheys younger brother was serving in the unit but was on duty. The three soldiers were off-duty, unarmed and in civilian clothes and they were drinking in Mooneys, a Belfast city centre bar in Cornmarket, one of the safer areas of the city for soldiers at this stage in the Troubles. The three previous shootings that year had occurred in different circumstances, during rioting, one report said that the three Scottish soldiers were enticed into a car by Republican women who promised them a party. The three were taken to the White Brae, Squires Hill, off the Ligoniel Road in North Belfast, there they were murdered by Provisional IRA members, two were shot in the back of the head and the other in the chest. The inquest in August 1971 was not able to establish the sequence of events. It was established all three were shot at very close range, probably in a line. All had been drinking, and Joseph was found to be severely intoxicated, the jury was told that the three were probably shot whilst relieving themselves beside the road

37.
Operation Demetrius
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Operation Demetrius was a British Army operation in Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971, during the Troubles. It involved the mass arrest and internment of 342 people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republican Army and it was proposed by the Northern Ireland Government and approved by the British Government. Armed soldiers launched dawn raids throughout Northern Ireland, sparking four days of violence in which 20 civilians, all of those arrested were Irish nationalists, the vast majority of them Catholic. Due to faulty intelligence, many had no links with the IRA, Ulster loyalist paramilitaries were also carrying out acts of violence, which were mainly directed against Catholics and Irish nationalists, but no loyalists were included in the sweep. The introduction of internment, the way the arrests were carried out, and the abuse of those arrested, led to mass protests, amid the violence, about 7,000 people fled or were forced out of their homes. It was later revealed that the British Government had withheld information from the ECHR, in December 2014 the Irish government asked the ECHR to revise its 1978 judgement. The policy of internment lasted until December 1975 and during that time 1,981 people were interned,1,874 were nationalist, the first loyalist internees were detained in February 1973. Internment had been used a number of times during Northern Irelands history, but had not yet been used during the Troubles, Ulster loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force had been engaged in a low-level violent campaign since 1966. After the August 1969 riots, the British Army was deployed on the streets to bolster the Royal Ulster Constabulary, up until this point the Irish Republican Army had been largely inactive. However, as the violence and political situation worsened, the IRA was divided over how to deal with it and it split into two factions, the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. In 1970–71, the Provisionals began to retaliate against the British Army, the Officials policy was one more defensive. During 1970–71 there were clashes between state forces and the two wings of the IRA, between the IRAs and loyalists, and occasionally between the IRAs. Most loyalist attacks were directed against Catholic civilians, but they clashed with state forces. The idea of re-introducing internment for Irish republican militants came from the unionist government of Northern Ireland and it was agreed to re-introduce internment at a meeting between Faulkner and UK Prime Minister Edward Heath on 5 August 1971. The British cabinet recommended balancing action, such as the arrest of loyalist militants, the calling in of weapons held by clubs in Northern Ireland. However, Faulkner argued that a ban on parades was unworkable, that the rifle clubs posed no security risk and that there was no evidence of loyalist terrorism. It was eventually agreed that there would be a ban on parades but no interning of loyalists. On the initial list of those to be arrested, which was drawn up by RUC Special Branch and MI5, there were 450 names, key figures on the list, and many who never appeared on them, had got wind of the swoop before it began

38.
Ballymurphy massacre
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The Ballymurphy Massacre was a series of incidents involving the killing of eleven civilians by the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army in Ballymurphy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The killings happened between 9 and 11 August 1971, during Operation Demetrius, the shootings have also been called Belfast Bloody Sunday, a reference to another massacre of civilians by the same battalion a few months later. The Northern Ireland Troubles had been ongoing for two years, and Belfast was particularly affected by political and sectarian violence, the British Army had been deployed in Northern Ireland in 1969, as events had gone beyond the control of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On the morning of Monday 9 August 1971, the security forces launched Operation Demetrius, the plan was to arrest and intern anyone suspected of being a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The unit selected for operation was the Parachute Regiment—the same regiment later responsible for the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry on 30 January 1972. Members of the Parachute Regiment stated that, as they entered the Ballymurphy area, they were shot at by republicans and returned fire. In 2016 Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, six civilians were killed on 9 August, these were, Francis Quinn, shot by a sniper while going to the aid of a wounded man. Hugh Mullan, a Catholic priest, shot by a sniper while going to the aid of a wounded man, joan Connolly, shot as she stood opposite the army base. Daniel Teggart, was fourteen times. Most of the entered his back, allegedly as he lay injured on the ground. Noel Phillips, shot as he stood opposite the army base, Joseph Murphy, shot as he stood opposite the army base. Murphy was subsequently taken into custody and after his release, as he was dying in hospital, he claimed that he had been beaten. When his body was exhumed in October 2015, a bullet was discovered in his body. One civilian was shot on 10 August, and another four were shot on 11 August, John Laverty and Joseph Corr were shot at separate points at the Top of the Whiterock Road. Laverty was shot twice, once in the back and once in the back of the leg, Corr was shot multiple times and died of his injuries on 27 August. John McKerr, shot by unknown attackers while standing outside the Roman Catholic church, paddy McCarthy got into a confrontation with a group of soldiers. Family allege an empty gun was put in his mouth and the trigger pulled, McCarthy suffered a heart attack and died shortly thereafter. In February 2015, the conviction of Terry Laverty, younger brother of John, was quashed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and he had been convicted of riotous behaviour and sentenced to six months on the eye-witness evidence of a paratrooper

39.
McGurk's Bar bombing
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On 4 December 1971, the Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at McGurks Bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The pub was frequented by Irish Catholics/nationalists, the explosion caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians—including two children—and wounding seventeen more. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles, a report later found that the police were biased in favour of this view, and that this hindered their investigation. The victims relatives allege that the security forces deliberately spread disinformation to discredit the IRA, in 1977, UVF member Robert Campbell was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the bombing and served fifteen years. The bombing sparked a series of bombings and shootings by loyalists and republicans. McGurks was a public house on the corner of North Queen Street and Great Georges Street. This was a mainly Irish nationalist and Catholic neighbourhood, and the regular customers were from the community. The pub was owned by Patrick and Philomena McGurk, who lived on the floor with their four children. The Ulster Volunteer Force was formed in Belfast in 1966, declaring war on the Irish Republican Army, until 1971, however, its actions were few and it scarcely existed in an organisational sense. The British Army was deployed in Northern Ireland following the August 1969 riots, in December 1969 the IRA split into two factions, the Official IRA and Provisional IRA. Both launched armed campaigns against the British Army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, during 1971, the violence gradually worsened. There were daily bombings and shootings by republicans, loyalists and the security forces, during the first two weeks of December, there were about 70 bombings and about 30 people were killed. On 2 December, three prisoners escaped from Crumlin Road prison, not far from McGurks. Security was tightened and there was a heavy RUC and British Army presence in the area over the two days. Eyewitnesses asserted that the checkpoints around McGurks were removed just an hour before the attack, on the evening of Saturday 4 December 1971, a four-man UVF team met in the Shankill area of Belfast and were ordered to bomb a pub on North Queen Street. According to the only convicted bomber—Robert Campbell—they were told not to return until the job was done, Campbell said that their target had not been McGurks, but another pub nearby. It is believed this was a pub called The Gem, which was linked to the Official IRA. The 50 pounds bomb was disguised as a parcel, which they placed in a car

40.
1971 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing
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The Balmoral Furniture Company bombing was a paramilitary attack that took place on 11 December 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A bomb exploded without warning outside a furniture showroom on the Shankill Road in a predominantly unionist area, killing four civilians, the Ulster Volunteer Force had carried out that bombing. The bombing happened on a Saturday when the Shankill was crowded with shoppers, hundreds of people rushed to help British Army troops and the Royal Ulster Constabulary rescue survivors trapped under the rubble of the devastated building. According to journalist Peter Taylor, the site was reminiscent of the London Blitz during World War II. Four such men were Tommy Lyttle, Michael Stone, Sammy Duddy, the shop was locally known as Moffats although Balmoral Furniture Company was its official name. One of the occupants got out, leaving a box containing a bomb on the step outside the front door, the person got back into the car and it sped away. The bomb exploded moments later, bringing down most of the building on top of those inside the shop, two employees working inside the shop were also killed, Hugh Bruce and Harold King. Unlike the other three victims, who were Protestant, King was a Catholic, Bruce, a former soldier and a Corps of Commissionaires member, was the shops doorman and was nearest to the bomb when it exploded. Nineteen people were injured in the bombing, including Traceys mother, the building, which was built in Victorian times, had load-bearing walls supporting upper floors on joists. It was thus unable to withstand the blast and so collapsed, adding to the devastation, the bombing caused bedlam in the crowded street. Hundreds of people rushed to the scene where they formed human chains to help the British Army, Peter Taylor described the scene as reminiscent of the London Blitz in World War II. One witness was Billy McQuiston, who had been walking down the Shankill with a friend when they heard the blast, rushing to the scene, McQuiston later recounted what he saw and felt upon reaching the wrecked building, Women were crying. Men were trying to dig out the rubble, other men were hitting the walls. One person was crying beside you and the person was shouting Bastards. I didnt actually see the bodies as they had them wrapped in sheets. They were just like lumps of meat, you know, small lumps of meat, all these emotions were going through you and you wanted to help. There were people shouting at the back, Lets get something done about this, to be perfectly honest with you, I just stood there and cried, just totally and utterly numb. It wasnt until I got back home that I realised, this isnt a game, theres a war going on here

41.
Bloody Sunday (1972)
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Fourteen people died, thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, other protesters were injured by rubber bullets or batons, and two were run down by army vehicles. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, the soldiers involved were members of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, also known as 1 Para. Two investigations have been held by the British government, the Widgery Tribunal, held in the immediate aftermath of the incident, largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of blame. It described the shooting as bordering on the reckless, but accepted their claims that they shot at gunmen. The report was criticised as a whitewash. The Saville Inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 to reinvestigate the incident, following a 12-year inquiry, Savilles report was made public in 2010 and concluded that the killings were both unjustified and unjustifiable. It found that all of those shot were unarmed, that none were posing a threat, that no bombs were thrown. On the publication of the report, British prime minister David Cameron made an apology on behalf of the United Kingdom. Following this, police began an investigation into the killings. Bloody Sunday was one of the most significant events of the Troubles because a number of civilian citizens were killed, by forces of the state, in full view of the public. It was the highest number of killed in a single shooting incident during the conflict. Bloody Sunday increased Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards the British Army, Support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army rose and there was a surge of recruitment into the organisation, especially locally. While many Catholics initially welcomed the British Army as a force, in contrast to what was regarded as a sectarian police force. In response to escalating levels of violence across Northern Ireland, internment without trial was introduced on 9 August 1971, there was disorder across Northern Ireland following the introduction of internment, with 21 people being killed in three days of rioting. In Belfast, soldiers of the Parachute Regiment shot dead 11 Catholic civilians in what known as the Ballymurphy Massacre. On 10 August, Bombardier Paul Challenor became the first soldier to be killed by the Provisional IRA in Derry, a further six soldiers had been killed in Derry by mid-December 1971. At least 1,332 rounds were fired at the British Army, who also faced 211 explosions and 180 nail bombs, both the Official IRA and Provisional IRA had established no-go areas for the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary in Derry through the use of barricades

42.
Abercorn Restaurant bombing
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The Abercorn Restaurant bombing was a paramilitary attack that took place in a crowded city centre restaurant and bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 4 March 1972. The bomb explosion claimed the lives of two women and injured over 130 people. Many of the injuries were severe and included the loss of limbs, the Provisional IRA was blamed, although no organisation ever claimed responsibility and nobody was ever charged in connection with the bombing. According to Ed Moloney, an Irish journalist who has written extensively about the IRA, the Abercorn was on 7-11 Castle Lane in central Belfast and housed a ground-floor restaurant and upstairs bar. It was owned by 45-year-old Bill OHara, a Catholic businessman, on Saturday 4 March 1972 it was packed with late afternoon shoppers when an anonymous caller issued a bomb warning to 999 at 4.28 pm. The caller did not give a location, but advised that a bomb would go off in Castle Lane in five minutes time. The street, located in the busy Cornmarket area, milled with crowds of people shopping and browsing as was typical on a Saturday in Belfast. Two minutes later, at 4.30 PM, a handbag containing a five-pound gelignite bomb exploded under a table inside the ground-floor restaurant. Two young Catholic friends were killed outright, Anne Owens, who was employed at the Electricity Board, and Janet Bereen, a hospital radiographer. The young women had been out shopping together and had stopped at the Abercorn to have coffee, they were seated at the table nearest the bomb, Owens had survived a previous bombing at her workplace. More than 130 were injured in the explosion, which overturned tables and chairs, some had their limbs blown off, others suffered terrible head and facial injuries, burns, deep cuts and perforated eardrums. Three had eyes destroyed by shards of flying glass, two sisters, Jennifer and Rosaleen McNern, were both horrifically mutilated, Jennifer lost both legs, and Rosaleen lost her legs, her right arm and one of her eyes. An RUC officer was one of the first people to arrive on the scene and he described the carnage that greeted him as something he would never forget. All you could hear was the moaning and squealing and the people with limbs torn from their bodies, one reporter who arrived in the wake of the bombing was Northern Irish presenter Gloria Hunniford. Although the bodies of the dead and injured had been removed, the gaping leather handbags with their contents spilling out and charred cuddly toys revealed that most of the victims had been young women and children. This same woman had been waiting at a bus stop when the bomb went off, a detective-sergeant established that the explosions epicentre was to the right of the table where the two girls had been sitting. The bomb had reportedly left behind inside a handbag. Nobody was ever charged in connection with the bombing and no organisation ever claimed responsibility for it

43.
1972 Donegall Street bombing
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They asserted that when the last call finally identified Donegall Street as the site of the bomb, there wasnt enough time to clear the street. This was one of the first car bombs the IRA used in their armed campaign, on Monday 20 March 1972, at 11.45 a. m. British Army troops and the RUC were alerted and immediately began to evacuate the people into nearby Lower Donegall Street, the second call to the Irish News newspaper seven minutes later also gave Church Street as the location for the device. When a final came at 11. The staff working inside the News Letter were told by the caller that they had 15 minutes in which to leave the building, the remains of the two policemens bodies, which had been blown to pieces, were allegedly found inside a nearby building. Minutes earlier they had been helping to escort people away from Church Street, the powerful explosion sent a ball of flame rolling down the street and a pall of black smoke rose upwards. Trainor was also an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment soldier and a member of the Orange Order, a seriously wounded pensioner, Henry Miller would die in hospital on 5 April. Most of the bodies of the dead were mutilated beyond recognition, with the exception of Constable ONeill, who had been a Catholic, the other six victims were Protestants. The ground floor of the News Letter offices and all buildings in the area suffered heavy damage, the News Letter library in particular sustained considerable damage with many priceless photographs and old documents destroyed. Around the blasts epicentre, the street resembled a battlefield, about one hundred schoolgirls lay wounded on the rubble-strewn, bloody pavement covered in glass and debris, and screaming in pain and fright. A total of 148 people were injured in the explosion,19 of them seriously, among the injured were many News Letter staff. One of the wounded was a child whose injuries had been so severe that a worker at the scene assumed the child had been killed. One young woman lost both legs, she was photographed by Derek Brind of the Associated Press as a British Paratrooper held her in his arms, passerby Frank Heagan witnessed the explosion and came upon what was left of two binmen who had been blown to pieces. He added that there was blood everywhere and people moaning and screaming, the street was full of girls and women all wandering around. The injured could be heard screaming as the ambulances transported them to hospital, one policeman angrily denounced the attack by stating, This was a deliberate attempt to kill innocent people. The people who planted it must have known people were being evacuated into its path. Whilst the security forces and firemen pulled victims from the debris in Donegall Street and that same day in Derry, a British soldier, John Taylor, was shot dead by an IRA sniper. In Dublin, the IRAs Chief of Staff, Seán Mac Stíofáin, suffered burns to his face, cathal Goulding, head of the Official IRA, also received a letter bomb but escaped injury by having dismantled the device before it exploded

44.
Battle at Springmartin
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The Battle at Springmartin was a series of gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 13–14 May 1972. It involved the British Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the violence began when a car bomb, planted by Ulster loyalists, exploded outside a crowded public house in the mainly Irish nationalist and Catholic district of Ballymurphy. UVF snipers then opened fire on the survivors from an abandoned high-rise flat and this began the worst fighting in Northern Ireland since the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the imposition of direct rule from London. For the rest of the night and throughout the next day, most of the fighting took place along the interface between the Catholic Ballymurphy and Ulster Protestant Springmartin housing estates, and the British Army base that sat between them. Seven people were killed in the violence, five civilians, a British soldier, four of the dead were teenagers. Shortly after 5,00 PM on Saturday 13 May 1972, the pub was in a mainly Irish Catholic and nationalist area and most of its customers were from the area. At the time of the blast, the pub was crowded with men watching a football match between England and West Germany on colour television. Sixty-three people were injured, eight of them seriously, John Moran, who had been working at Kellys as a part-time barman, died of his injuries on 23 May. At first, the British Army claimed that the blast had been an accident caused by a Provisional IRA bomb. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, told the House of Commons on 18 May that the blast was caused by a Provisional IRA bomb that exploded prematurely, however, locals suspected that the loyalist Ulster Defence Association had planted the bomb. Republican sources said that IRA volunteers would not have risked storing such an amount of explosives in such a crowded pub. It later emerged that the bomb had indeed been planted by loyalists, a memorial plaque on the site of the former pub names three members of staff who lost their lives as a result of the bomb and the gun battles that followed. It reads. here on 13th May 1972 a no warning Loyalist car bomb exploded, as a result,66 people were injured and three innocent members of staff of Kellys Bar lost their lives. They were, Tommy McIlroy, John Moran, Gerard Clarke, the flats overlooked the Catholic Ballymurphy estate. Rifles, mostly Second World War stock, were ferried to the area from dumps in the Shankill, not long after the explosion, the UVF unit opened fire on those gathered outside the wrecked pub, including those who had been caught in the blast. A British Army spokesman said that the shooting began at about 5,35 PM, social Democratic and Labour Party Member of Parliament Gerry Fitt said that shots had been fired from the Springmartin estate only minutes after the bombing. William Whitelaw, however, claimed that the shooting did not begin until 40 minutes after the blast, ambulances braved the gunfire to reach the wounded, which included a number of children. Tommy McIlroy, a Catholic civilian who worked at Kellys Bar, was shot in the chest and he was the first to be killed in the violence

Northern Ireland
–
Northern Ireland is a constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the north-east of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the total population

Republic of Ireland
–
Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the

1.
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891).

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Flag

3.
In 1922 a new parliament called the Oireachtas was established, of which Dáil Éireann became the lower house.

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Éamon de Valera (1882–1975)

Continental Europe
–
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe, or, by Europeans, simply the Continent, is the continuous continent of Europe, excluding surrounding islands. This historical core of Carolingian Europe was consciously invoked in the 1950s as the historical basis for the prospective European integration. In both Great Britain and Ireland, th

1.
Map of the Scandiae islands by Nicolaus Germanus for a 1467 publication of Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini.

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Continental Europe (green area); the boundaries of the continent are somewhat disputed.

Good Friday Agreement
–
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s. Northern Irelands present devolved system of government is based on the agreement, the agreement also created a number of institutions between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and between the Republic of

1.
A 'Yes' campaign poster for the Good Friday Agreement during simultaneous referendums in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland

3.
The offices of the North/South Ministerial Council on Upper English Street, Armagh, Northern Ireland

St Andrews Agreement
–
The St Andrews Agreement was an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Irelands political parties in relation to the devolution of power in the region. The governments plan envisaged the devolution of policing and justice powers within two years from the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive, the parties were given

1.
Ian Paisley, George W. Bush and Martin McGuinness in December 2007

2.
Northern Ireland

Operation Banner
–
Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces operation in Northern Ireland from August 1969 to July 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in the British militarys history, the British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to

1.
Two British Army soldiers at a checkpoint near Newry, Northern Ireland, 1988

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A British Army Land Rover patrolling South Belfast (1981).

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A British Army Ammunition Technical Officer approaches a suspect device in Northern Ireland.

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A memorial to those killed by British soldiers during the "Ballymurphy Massacre"

Dissident Irish Republican campaign
–
The main paramilitaries involved are the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann. They have targeted the British Army and Police Service of Northern Ireland in gun and bomb attacks, as well as with mortars and they have also carried out bombings that are meant to cause disruption. However, their campaign has not been as intensive as the Pr

1.
Political map of Ireland

British Armed Forces
–
They also promote Britains wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts, and provide humanitarian aid. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the leading military. The Commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces is the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, the UK Parliament a

1.
The Vulcan Bomber was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War.

Royal Ulster Constabulary
–
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, its title became the Royal Ulster Constabulary. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary, at its peak the force had around 8,500 officers with a further 4,500 who were members of the

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Picture showing the fortifications of the RUC station in Dungiven.

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Flag of the Royal Ulster Constabulary

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An Ógra Shinn Féin propaganda sticker calling for the RUC to be disbanded

Defence Forces (Ireland)
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The military of Ireland, known as the Defence Forces, encompass the Army, Air Corps, Naval Service and Reserve Defence Forces. The Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces is the President of Ireland, all Defence Forces officers hold their commission from the President, but in practice the Minister for Defence acts on the Presidents behalf and repor

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An Irish Army Cavalry Corps Scorpion Light Tank during a parade in Dublin

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Defence Forces Óglaigh na hÉireann

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Irish Air Corps AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter

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Irish Naval Service vessel LÉ Eithne

Irish republicanism
–
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic. This followed hundreds of years of British conquest and Irish resistance through rebellion and it launched the 1798 Rebellion with the help of French troops. The rebellion had some success, especially in County Wexford, before it was suppre

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The Battle of Killala marked the end of the rising

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Wolfe Tone circa 1794. Tone is considered by many as the father of Irish Republicanism

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Michael Dwyer

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Depiction of Robert Emmet 's trial

Provisional Irish Republican Army
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It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called simply the Irish Republican Army. It was also referred to as such by others. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement, the IRA initially focused on defe

1.
IRA members showing an improvised mortar and an RPG (1992)

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IRA re-enactment in Galbally, County Tyrone (2009)

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Republican colour party in Dublin, March 2009. The blue flag being carried at the front is that of "Dublin Brigade IRA".

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An IRA badge – the phoenix is frequently used to symbolise the origins of the Provisional IRA.

Official Irish Republican Army
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It emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA, each continued to call itself simply the IRA and rejected the others legitimacy. Unlike the Provisionals, the Officials were Marxist and worked to form a front with other Irish communis

1.
Official IRA "mobile patrol" in Turf Lodge, Belfast, April 1972

Irish National Liberation Army
–
The Irish National Liberation Army is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed in December 1974, during the Troubles. It seeks to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland and it is the paramilitary wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. The INLA was founded by

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The INLA logo consisting of the Starry Plough and the Flag of Ireland with a fist holding an AK-47 -style rifle.

3.
A FEG PA-63 the type of gun used to kill Wright

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INLA volunteers in the Bogside area of Derry (2005)

Irish People's Liberation Organisation
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It developed a reputation for intra-republican violence and criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1992. The IPLO remains a Proscribed Organisation in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000, the IPLO emerged from a split within the INLA. After the 1981 Irish hunger strike, in three of its m

1.
IPLO volunteers at the funeral of Martin O'Prey

Continuity Irish Republican Army
–
The Continuity Irish Republican Army, usually known as the Continuity IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group that aims to bring about a united Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Provisional IRA in 1986 and it is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and is designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom, New Zeala

1.
CIRA propaganda video

Real Irish Republican Army
–
The Real Irish Republican Army or Real IRA, also referred to as the New IRA, is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which aims to bring about a united Ireland. It formed in 1997 following a split in the Provisional IRA by dissident members and it is an illegal organisation in the Republic of Ireland and designated as a terrorist organisat

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The damage caused by the 3 August 2001 Ealing bombing

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The damage caused by 30 June 2000 bomb

Provisional IRA arms importation
–
Provisional Irish Republican Army arms importation into the Republic of Ireland for use in Northern Ireland began in the early 1970s. With these weapons it conducted a campaign against the British state in Northern Ireland. In the early stages of the Troubles, during the period 1969–1972 and they had access to weapons remaining from the IRAs failed

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The Armalite AR-18 – obtained by the IRA from the US in the early 1970s and an emotive symbol of its armed campaign

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An AK-47 Assault Rifle (over 1000 of which were donated by Gaddafi to the IRA in the 1980s)

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RPG-7

4.
FN FNC

Ulster loyalism
–
Ulster loyalism is a political ideology found primarily among working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland, whose status as a part of the United Kingdom has remained controversial. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers from Great Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, like unionists, loyalists are attached to the British mona

1.
The Union Flag, Ulster Banner and Orange Order flags are often flown by loyalists in Northern Ireland

2.
Loyalist graffiti and banner on a building in a side street off the Shankill Road, Belfast (1970)

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A UVF mural in Belfast

4.
A republican mural in Belfast with the slogan "Collusion Is Not An Illusion"

Ulster Volunteer Force
–
The Ulster Volunteer Force is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It emerged in 1966 and is named after the original UVF of the early 20th century and its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British soldier. The group undertook a campaign of almost thirty years during the Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and offi

1.
A UVF publicity photo showing masked and armed UVF members

2.
Above: the UVF emblem, with the Red Hand of Ulster and the motto "For God and Ulster" Below: the UVF flag

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A UVF mural on the Shankill Road

4.
An old UVF mural on Shankill Road, where the group was formed

Ulster Defence Association
–
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest Ulster loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during the Troubles, for most of this time it was a legal organisation. Its declared goal was to defend Ulster Protestant loyalist areas and to comba

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UDA members marching through Belfast city centre in a massive show of strength, summer 1972

2.
Above: UDA emblem Below: UDA flag

3.
Masked and armed UDA members at a show of strength in Belfast

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A UFF mural in the Kilcooley estate near Bangor

Red Hand Commando
–
The Red Hand Commando was a small secretive Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force. Its aim was to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army – and it is named after the Red Hand of Ulster. Writing in early 1973, Martin Dillon characterized the Red Hand

Ulster Resistance
–
The group was launched at a three thousand-strong invitation-only meeting at the Ulster Hall. The rally was chaired by the Democratic Unionist Party Press Officer Sammy Wilson and addressed by party colleagues Ian Paisley, Peter Robinson, also on the platform was Alan Wright, the chairman of the Ulster Clubs. The launch rally was followed by a numb

1.
Ulster Resistance Flag 'C' Division

Loyalist Volunteer Force
–
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his split from the Ulster Volunteer Force after breaking its ceasefire. They had belonged to the UVFs Mid-Ulster Brigade and Wright had been the brigades commander, in a two-year period from August 1996,

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A sign of the youth wing of the LVF in Ballycraigy, an area which is regarded as an LVF stronghold

Ulster Defence Regiment
–
The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. It was the largest infantry regiment in the British Army, formed with seven battalions plus another four added within two years and it consisted mostly of part-time volunteers until 1976, when a full-tim

Northern Ireland Prison Service
–
The Northern Ireland Prison Service is an executive agency of the Department of Justice, the headquarters of which are in Dundonald House in the Stormont Estate in Belfast. It was established as an agency on 1 April 1995, agency status was re-confirmed following a quinquennial review in 2000. The Prison Service is responsible for providing services

1.
Dundonald House by night

Territorial Army (United Kingdom)
–
The Army Reserve is the active-duty volunteer reserve force and integrated element of the British Army. Most Volunteer infantry units had unique identities, but lost these in the reorganisation, only one infantry unit, the London Regiment, has maintained a separate identity. Reservists in the past also served as constables or bailiffs, even holding

1.
Infantry of 50th (Northumbrian) Division moving up past a knocked-out German 88mm gun near 'Joe's Bridge' over the Meuse-Escaut Canal in Belgium, 16 September 1944.

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
–
Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom, England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most law enforcement is carried out by police serving in regional police services within one of these jurisdictions. Police officers are granted powers to enable them to execute their du

1.
Mounted officer of the Metropolitan Police at Buckingham Palace, London

2.
An officer of the Metropolitan Police with an officer of Merseyside Police during a Football match between Everton and West Ham at Goodison Park

3.
Police Constables and an Inspector of Greater Manchester Police on the beat in Manchester city centre after the 2008 UEFA Cup Final Riots

4.
Police harbour patrol boat in Poole Harbour, Dorset

Royal Air Force
–
The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdoms aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. The RAF describe its mission statement as, an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for p

1.
A later version of the Spitfires which played a major part in the Battle of Britain.

2.
Royal Air Force emblem

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The Avro Lancaster heavy bomber was extensively used during the strategic bombing of Germany.

4.
The Handley Page Victor bomber was a strategic bomber of the RAF's V bomber force used to carry both conventional and nuclear bombs.

Royal Navy
–
The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for

1.
Royal Navy

2.
The Battle of Sluys as depicted in Froissart's Chronicles; late 14th century

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A late 16th century painting of the Spanish Armada in battle with English warships

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The Dutch Raid on the Medway in 1667 during the Second Anglo–Dutch War

Irish Prison Service
–
The Irish Prison Service manages the day-to-day running of prisons in Ireland. Political responsibility for Irish prisons still rests with the Minister and governmental Department for Justice, in 2009, the Irish Prison Service had an annual budget of €379.319 million and it had a staff of 3,568 people. Thus, the responsibility for the management of

1.
Irish Prison Service van parked near the Four Courts

Ireland
–
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the i

1.
Satellite image of Ireland on 11 October 2010

2.
The Gowran Ogham Stone, Christianised c.6th Century. On display in St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran.

Battle of the Bogside
–
The Battle of the Bogside was a very large communal riot that took place during 12–14 August 1969 in Derry, Northern Ireland. The fighting was between residents of the Bogside area, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary along with local unionists, the rioting erupted at the end of an Apprentice Boys parade which was passing along the city walls, past t

1.
Bogsiders defending their barricades

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Free Derry Corner in the Bogside; the slogan "You are now entering Free Derry " was first painted in January 1969 by John Casey

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The Bogside in 2004, looking down from the city walls. The area has been greatly redeveloped since 1969, with the demolition of much of the old slum housing and the Rossville Street flats.

1969 Northern Ireland riots
–
During 12–17 August 1969, Northern Ireland was rocked by intense political and sectarian rioting. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising from the civil rights campaign, Civil rights marches were repeatedly attacked by both Ulster Protestant loyalists and by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, a unionist and largely Protestant polic

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Police riot in Bogside district in Derry

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A mural in Belfast remembering the 1969 riots

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A Shorland armoured car. The RUC used Shorlands mounted with Browning heavy machine-guns during the riots

4.
Divis Tower came under heavy machine-gun fire from the RUC, killing two people

Falls Curfew
–
The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls, was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish nationalist district, as the search ended, local youths attacked the British soldiers with stones and petrol bombs and the sol

1.
A mural depicting the march that broke through the curfew

2.
The Falls Road in 1981

1971 Scottish soldiers' killings
–
The three Scottish soldiers killings was an incident that took place in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It happened on 10 March 1971, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army shot dead three unarmed British Army soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers, two of the three were teenage brothers, all three were from Scotland. The

1.
Squire's Hill, north Belfast, the area of the killings

2.
John McCaig, Dougald McCaughey, and Joseph McCaig, the three killed Scottish soldiers

3.
Belfast Cenotaph, focus of the public mourning in Belfast

Operation Demetrius
–
Operation Demetrius was a British Army operation in Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971, during the Troubles. It involved the mass arrest and internment of 342 people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republican Army and it was proposed by the Northern Ireland Government and approved by the British Government. Armed soldiers launched dawn

1.
The entrance to Compound 19, one of the sections of Long Kesh internment camp

2.
The HMS Maidstone, a prison ship docked at Belfast where many internees were sent

3.
A mural commemorating those killed in the Ballymurphy Massacre during Operation Demetrius

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Anti-internment mural in the Bogside area of Derry

Ballymurphy massacre
–
The Ballymurphy Massacre was a series of incidents involving the killing of eleven civilians by the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army in Ballymurphy, Belfast, Northern Ireland. The killings happened between 9 and 11 August 1971, during Operation Demetrius, the shootings have also been called Belfast Bloody Sunday, a reference to

1.
A mural in Belfast commemorating the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre.

2.
Commemoration plaque in a remembrance garden in Ballymurphy, Belfast

McGurk's Bar bombing
–
On 4 December 1971, the Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at McGurks Bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The pub was frequented by Irish Catholics/nationalists, the explosion caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians—including two children—and wounding seventeen more. It was the

1.
A British soldier surveys the aftermath of the bombing

1971 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing
–
The Balmoral Furniture Company bombing was a paramilitary attack that took place on 11 December 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A bomb exploded without warning outside a furniture showroom on the Shankill Road in a predominantly unionist area, killing four civilians, the Ulster Volunteer Force had carried out that bombing. The bombing happened o

1.
The bombing took place in the heart of the loyalist Shankill Road

2.
A fireman removes the body of the youngest victim, Colin Nichol, from under the rubble

3.
A mural showing the Balmoral bombing and other IRA attacks carried out on the Shankill Road

4.
Plaque commemorating the bombing on the side of Shankill Leisure Centre

Bloody Sunday (1972)
–
Fourteen people died, thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, other protesters were injured by rubber bullets or batons, and two were run down by army vehicles. The march had been organised by the Northern Ireland C

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Father Edward Daly waving a blood-stained white handkerchief while trying to escort the mortally wounded Jackie Duddy to safety.

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Westland Street in the Bogside viewed from the city wall, 2007

3.
Belt worn by Patrick Doherty. The notch was made by the bullet that killed him.

4.
Mural by Bogside Artists depicting all who were killed by the British Army on the day

Abercorn Restaurant bombing
–
The Abercorn Restaurant bombing was a paramilitary attack that took place in a crowded city centre restaurant and bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 4 March 1972. The bomb explosion claimed the lives of two women and injured over 130 people. Many of the injuries were severe and included the loss of limbs, the Provisional IRA was blamed, although n

1.
A victim's body being removed from the scene by members of the security forces following the bomb explosion

2.
Castle Lane as it appeared in 2007. The Abercorn Restaurant and Bar was close by the spot from which the photograph was taken.

1972 Donegall Street bombing
–
They asserted that when the last call finally identified Donegall Street as the site of the bomb, there wasnt enough time to clear the street. This was one of the first car bombs the IRA used in their armed campaign, on Monday 20 March 1972, at 11.45 a. m. British Army troops and the RUC were alerted and immediately began to evacuate the people int

1.
One of the 148 people injured in the Provisional IRA car bomb explosion in Belfast city centre which killed seven men

Battle at Springmartin
–
The Battle at Springmartin was a series of gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 13–14 May 1972. It involved the British Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the violence began when a car bomb, planted by Ulster loyalists, exploded outside a crowded public house in the mainly Irish nationalist and Catholic district of Ballymurphy. UVF

1.
The interface area today. At the far end of the 18-foot (5.5 m) high peace wall is the former British Army base. The area has been extensively rebuilt since 1972.

2.
The dead commemorated in a republican Garden of Remembrance in Ballymurphy, Belfast

1.
Republican memorial at Carragunt bridge, on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, often crossed by Provisional IRA forces during the Troubles to attack British targets inside County Fermanagh

1.
"Drumcree, The Garvaghy Road July 1997" by military artist David Rowlands, oil on canvas, 91cm x 61 cm, painting owned by the 1st Battalion (The Cheshires) The Mercian Regiment which depicts British soldiers during the rioting on Garvaghy Road

1.
The red Vauxhall Cavalier containing the bomb. This photograph was taken shortly before the explosion; the camera was found afterwards in the rubble. The Spanish man and child seen in the photo both survived. The photographer, who was with the same group of Spanish tourists, was killed.

2.
Lower Market Street, site of the bombing, 2001. The courthouse is in the background

3.
The scene in Market Street minutes after the bomb went off. Survivors are shown helping the injured